Issued on 28 May 2025
Grass pollen causes pollution!
While dense clouds and rain on the northern side of the Alps will ensure conditions on Ascension Day that will only allow a low pollen count, the rest of the country can expect more hours of sunshine and therefore more intense pollen counts. From Friday to Sunday, there may then be intense pollen counts throughout Austria, with the tendency for showers and thunderstorms increasing again from the west from Sunday afternoon.
This will result in high levels of grass pollen. Especially in those parts of the country where the rainfall is less intense, allergy sufferers must be prepared for a phase of intense exposure. Only during periods of heavy rain can there be relief. Foxtail grass, smooth oatgrass, tussock grass, couch grass, bluegrass and grasshoppers are responsible for the current levels of stress.
However, rye can also already be flowering on some arable land and can cause pollution in the immediate vicinity of the cultivation areas. However, as the pollen of this cereal species is very large due to breeding, it cannot be transported by the wind as easily as the naturally occurring grass species.
In the meadow aspect, plantain and dock can represent an additional burden.
Green alder blooms in the mountains and can cause allergic complaints in the immediate vicinity. If the weather conditions are locally favourable, relevant amounts of pollen can be released, which can cause local pollution and, if the weather conditions are right, can be transported down to the valleys.
The horse chestnut, which is often planted as an avenue and park tree, has already passed the peak of its flowering and is only very rarely registered in the pollen spectrum.
The lime and vine buds are already well developed. Some lime trees are already flowering. However, they still need a few more hours of sunshine before they blossom fully. The situation is similar with vines. From an allergological point of view, however, the pollen from these plants poses little danger. Only the scent of lime trees can cause irritation in sensitive people.
The pollen of the first flowering stinging nettles can also be detected in our measuring stations, but it too has only a low potential to cause allergic reactions.
The first relevant concentrations of fungal spores are registered at our measuring points in the lowlands and valleys. For the time being, however, they only reach low concentrations in the ambient air.
Other types of pollen in the ambient air: umbellifers, yew, spruce, pine, goosefoot and buttercup plants as well as elderberry, mulberry, clove plants, robinia, sour grasses, fir and cypress plants. These are of minor allergological importance.
Responsible for the content
AZ Pollenresearch GmbH
im Auftrag des Vereins Österreichischer Polleninformationsdienst in Kooperation mit der GeoSphere Austria.
Dr. med. Markus Berger, Dr. rer. nat. Johannes M. Bouchal und Lukas Dirr, MSc.
Wetterdaten und Prognosen basierend auf synoptischen Daten:
GeoSphere Austria, Bundesanstalt für Geologie, Geophysik, Klimatologie und Meteorologie (ehemals ZAMG)
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