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Hay fever sufferers may breathe easier this year as a late spring means there is less pollen than usual in the air, experts say.The tree pollen season, which affects some 4m hay fever sufferers, has begun two weeks later than usual in the south and has yet to start in the north.
The National Pollen and Aerobiology Unit says the season may well be short.
The grass pollen season has yet to begin, but this could follow a similar pattern.
It is is grass pollen which is the main bugbear of the UK's 15m sufferers, affecting some 95% of them.
The season does not usually get into full swing until late May, but there are generally lower levels registering in the weeks before.
Spring blip?
Beverly Adams Groom of the NPARU, the country's principle provider of pollen forecasts, says that may not be the case this year.
"We may see a much shorter run up. Of course we cannot say how severe the season will be once it does get under way, but it is fair to say it the outlook is promising."
The principal offender in the tree pollen season which has just started is the birch, although ash, oak and London plane can also be provocative allergens.
As for grasses, the main pollinating plants are timothy, rye, cocksfoot, meadow and fescue. In the autumn weeds such as nettles and dock, as well as mugwort and plantain, can trigger hay fever in a minority of sufferers.
The projections have been for a growing number of people to suffer from hay fever as the population rises in urban areas - places where pollen tends to remain in the atmosphere.
Earlier and longer seasons also have also been pointed to. It remains to be seen whether this year's late spring will simply be a blip in a longer term trend.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.