Fall Allergy Season Is Starting: What To Expect In Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA — It may not be not your imagination that your eyes seem more watery, your throat scratchier and your nose a little runnier. The fall allergy season is underway in Pennsylvania, and it’ll take a hard frost to knock down the pollen that makes allergy sufferers feel so miserable.

Allergies are a year-round malady, but are different in the fall than in other seasons. Ragweed is the big culprit, but mold and dust mites are also fall allergy triggers.

“What we see in the fall are allergies to ragweed,” WebMD chief medical officer Dr. John Whyte told AccuWeather. “It blooms between August and November, so we kind of see that peak pollen [occur in] mid- to late September.”

To a lesser extent, mold and dust mites are fall allergy triggers, according to WebMd. Mold spores multiply in wet spots outside, such as piles of damp leaves. The first use of the furnace in the fall sends dust mites idle for months swirling into the air.

Generally, allergy sufferers will breathe easier after the first freeze, when temperatures drop below 28 degrees Fahrenheit for a couple of hours. That won’t happen as early as it does across the eastern third of the country, according to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alan Reppert.

“We will see the pollen levels really remain high through much of October and even into parts of early November, just due to the lack of temperatures dropping below freezing,” he said, noting that plants and weeds will continue to thrive until then.

A weather pattern change in late September and October is expected to bring rain that will ease drought conditions that have persisted throughout much of the summer — but that also means conditions will be ideal for ragweed and mold. Ragweed pollen levels aren’t likely to spike in the East until rainfall increases in October, Reppert said.

According to AccuWeather’s current projections, the pollen season will end here sometime in early to late October.

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The symptoms of allergies can mimic those of serious illnesses, including COVID-19, the flu or the common cold. Symptoms of all three include a runny nose, headache and or sore throat, “but itchiness typically means allergies,” Whyte told AccuWeather.

“Itchiness really is a big differentiator,” he said. “The other one is fever. You don't typically get a fever when you're suffering from allergies.”

Until the season ends, keep the windows closed, avoid extended periods of time outdoors, especially when it’s breezy, and use air filters in addition to maintaining a regular medication routine approved by an allergist, Whyte advised.