Sunday's extremely high pollen count not even a record

Sunday’s pollen count may have seemed to reach biblical proportions, but it is far from a record for the Atlanta area.

The pollen count on Sunday reached 4,666 particles per cubic meter of air, the highest it has been all year, according to the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Center. Because of the severity, Sunday morning’s rains didn’t do much to control it despite the streams of yellow seen in the showers’ wake.

Sunday’s count includes extremely high levels of pine, oak, sweet gum, birch, and sycamore pollen and a moderate level of grasses.

SEE ALSO: Video shows how bad the pollen season is in Georgia

It was still below last year’s high which fell on April 12 with 5,354. But Sunday’s count did break the highs for 2017 and 2016 with 3,559 and 4,106 respectively.

The highest count in the past decade remains March 20, 2012, with 9,369 particles per cubic meter of air.

Anything more than 1500 is considered in the extremely high range and last year, there were about a dozen days where that was true. The pollen season typically runs through the end of the April or the beginning of May but varies year-to-year.

On extremely high pollen days like Sunday’s, the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Center recommends keeping cars and house windows closed, cleaning or changing air filters regularly, showering when getting home and definitely before crawling into bed, wearing sunglasses and masks, and removing shoes when entering the house.

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