Hang on to your tissues, Canberra hay fever sufferers: we're in for the "Godzilla" of seasons.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Pollen levels are already twice as high this season than the same time a year earlier, the Canberra Pollen Count and Forecast has revealed.
ANU professor and project leader Simon Haberle said 2015 was set to be the worst hay fever season in the capital since formal counting began in 2007.
It's even worse than the 2014 season, which proved to be Canberra's worst in years and included a record day for emergency admissions for chronic asthma at Canberra Hospital.
"It's the Godzilla of hay fever seasons," Professor Haberle said.
"This year there seems to be twice as much grass pollen in the air, in the last three weeks, than ever recorded in the ACT.
"Our pollen measurements and the response that people are sending us through the Canberra Pollen Count App...is telling us that this is a really bad season at the moment."
Professor Haberle said between 2000 and 3000 pieces of feedback had been received via the app since October 1 - more than the 2000 people who have downloaded the app so far.
"People responding on the app are saying, 'yes, we're feeling bad'. There's a lot more [feedback] than we've seen before," he said.
"It's a big problem in Canberra. One in five people suffer hay fever so, there's economic impacts - people taking days off work and feeling bad."
The project has also been analysing the distribution of plants that cause hay fever across Australia and found Canberra to be the most affected city.
Birches, elms and a number of grass species are some of the city's biggest culprits.
Consequently, Professor Haberle has called on the ACT government to run an education campaign on pollen-producing plants.
He said flying fluff from the city's white poplar trees and golden wattle were often mistaken as the major offenders.
"Canberra comes out as the number one place where you can encounter the most number of plants that can give you hay fever," Professor Haberle said.
"It's not fluff that causes hay fever, it's other pollen in the atmosphere at the same time.
"[Wattle] has got a really big pollen grain so it tends to fall straight to the ground. It does have allergenic qualities - you'd have to sniff it into your nose before you got hay fever.
"A lot of these plants are quite beautiful and I wouldn't advise removing them. It's about people being aware and realising which plants cause hay fever."
For more information or to download the free pollen app, visit www.canberrapollen.com.au
