Maybe It’s Not the Virus: Pollen Levels in Portland Are Currently at a 30-Day High

Allergy season is here, and it’s a bitch.

KNOW YOUR ENEMY: A tree blooms in Northeast Portland in late March. (Aaron Wessling)
By Matthew Singer

Coughing? Sneezing? Feeling lousy? Don't freak out. Maybe it's not what you fear it is.

Instead, consider the possibility it's what you would've assumed it was in the days before every throat tickle filled you with dread.

Allergy season is here, and it's a bitch.

Specifically, it's the trees that are doing you in today. According to the allergen-tracking website Pollen.com, pollen counts in Portland are currently at a 30-day high. Warm weather and windy conditions are filling the air with ash, alder and birch pollinators—roughly 9.9 parts per cubic meter.

And, we're sorry to say, it's going to get worse: Those numbers look to peak on Monday, at 11 parts per cubic meter.

Look on the bright side: While completely avoiding pollen is impractical given its microscopic size, allergists say the best advice is to stay indoors with the windows shut, which is what all of us were planning on doing already. (Well, most of us.) And hey, you've got nothing to do for the next month, right?

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