RALEIGH, N.C. — Tuesday marked the signs of early spring in central North Carolina with pollen covering everything.
What You Need To Know
The North Carolina Division of Air Quality listed very high tree pollen counts Tuesday
Warmer weather can lead to rises in the temperatures of soil
Lex Brown has worked in the landscaping industry for more than 10 years
The warm weather has elicited many to get outdoors. People with seasonal allergies may have to face the elements with their health in mind more than they would like.
The North Carolina Division of Air Quality, a sector of the Department of Environmental Quality, tested high tree pollen counts in Raleigh.
The warmth affects lawn care, too.
“Really, this year soil temperatures have risen vs. how it was last year. Everything is coming in fast so we kind of have to attack it how it is coming in,” said Lex Brown, a project manager for Lawn and Order, a landscaping company based out of Cary.
Brown said crews have grown used to working with Mother Nature to get their jobs done.
“Definitely this year,” he said.
Yards look alive, healthy and green with less than two weeks on the calendar before the start of spring.
Brown said landscaping in early March is a pretty good way to make money. He said one reason why is that soil temperatures are rising weeks earlier than last year. Which means there’s plenty of mowing.
“The best is just being outside,” Brown said.
Although being outside can be an enemy as much as a friend for others.
Scientists say the tradeoff for the warm temperatures is the high amounts of tree pollen released into the atmosphere.
“Everything is pollinating just a lot faster than usual in times before. Even last year,” he said.
Which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, can trigger symptoms for almost 26% of Americans ages 18 and older experiencing seasonal allergies.
Brown is not immune.
“A whole lot of drainage at night. I’ve got this (face cover). It comes in handy when it gets thick out here. It’s thick now,” Brown said on Tuesday afternoon.
The upside for Brown, 30, and his four-man crew is that they can’t stop the elements, so they focus on what they can do. They waste no time going from property to property to knock out 15 to 20 yards each shift.
“Seeing what you have to figure out concerning a yard, I think that is kind of like the best part, but that could be the difficult part as well, because you never know what you are going to get with some of these yards, some of these yards that we come to,” he said.