It's not your imagination: Many Bay Area residents are experiencing allergy symptoms a bit later this year. Spring is in full bloom around the region, and lots of people are reaching for their allergy medications.
At one San Francisco drug store NBC Bay Area visited, several shelves of allergy medications were in short supply.
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WATCH HEREDr. Theodore Chu, an allergy and asthma physician in San Jose, spends his weekends tracking pollen counts.
"I've noticed that with the cooler weather, that the tree pollens have come out a little later than usual, and that means the pollen season is probably going to extend a little bit longer," Chu noted.
At the moment, he said the biggest allergen culprit in the Bay Area is grass pollen. Typically, he said, grass pollen counts in the Bay Area tend to start picking up on April 15, but this year, the numbers began picking up this past week.
"And now just people walking around will notice more trouble, because grass pollen will fly everywhere," he added.
Federal data analyzed by the nonprofit organization Climate Central indicates that climate change is giving allergens around the country more time to grow and more days to release pollen.
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"With climate change, it will be a longer allergy season, I can’t prove it until I see the results in the next few years, but I think that’s correct," Chu said, noting some of his own data on pollen counts has been used to research the impacts of climate change on allergy seasons.
There are things you can do to mitigate your allergy symptoms.
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SIGN UP For those suffering from allergy symptoms, Chu said you can either avoid the allergens that trigger your symptoms or take over-the-counter antihistamines, sprays, and drops.
If those methods don't work, Chu said, at that point, you might want to seek out an allergist who can do allergy tests on you or give you allergy shots.
In San Francisco, resident Alain De Villiers said this year hasn't been too tough on his allergies, except for when he goes to one particular destination.
"Just the worst part of it is every time I go to Golden Gate Park, my eyes burn and itch, like they always do, so I gotta come ready with a Zyrtec," he said.
Dr. Villiers noted that last year's allergy season in San Francisco felt particularly long to him.
