Climate change drives longer, more intense pollen seasons

Ah, spring. Sunnier days, warmer temperatures — and pollen season.

A Climate Central study shows growing seasons in most of the United States now average 16 days longer than in 1970. And a recent study in Nature Communications predicts our warming climate will increase annual total pollen emissions in the U.S. between 16 and 40 percent.

Yingxiao Zhang is a coauthor of that study. She’s a doctoral candidate in the Climate, Space Sciences and Engineering department at the University of Michigan, and she joined Climate Cast this week.

Click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast to hear this week’s episode.