It’s that time of year once again: Fall allergies are back with vengeance. The constant overexposure to airborne contaminants that trigger ragweed or mold allergy sufferers alike make it feel almost impossible to catch a break from seasonal allergy symptoms. This year will be no different.

What do experts predict for ragweed and mold allergy sufferers this season and beyond? Let’s take a look at the potential impact.

Forecasting Fall Allergies: The Ragweed Allergy Impact

Typically, when we think of ‘allergy season’, we think spring . . . and immediately associate our symptoms with heightened pollen levels. Well, the same is actually true when our fall allergies kick in, but during this time of year, there’s a different type of pollen that threatens to trigger allergy sufferers nationwide: Weed pollen.

In the fall, plants like tumbleweed and sagebrush commonly trigger fall allergies, but ragweed is one weed pollen allergy sufferers have to worry about.

In fact, ragweed allergies are the most common weed pollen allergies, affecting 15% of people in the United States! Known to thrive in Eastern or Midwestern states, ragweed can put your fall allergies at risk no matter where you live. After all, just one ragweed plant can produce billions of dry pollen grains—and because these grains are so lightweight, winds can send them traveling for hundreds of miles, impacting unsuspecting allergy sufferers far and wide.

Forecasting Fall Allergies: The Mold Allergy Impact

For those suffering from fall allergies, there’s more to worry about than high ragweed and weed pollen counts. Asthma and allergy sufferers are also plagued by the threat of mold exposure that can trigger mold allergy symptoms. After all, hot, humid weather caused by the change in seasons can lead to higher concentrations of mold spores, which in turn, increase your symptoms.

While we typically expect to come across mold allergy triggers when moisture is present, recent studies have observed an increase in mold concentrations when plants die or leaves fall. Mold spores tend to ride with the wind, just like the dry pollen grains created by a lone ragweed plant. As a result of mold spores and their travels, mold allergy sufferers in surrounding communities can expect to feel the impact as spores attach themselves to decaying leaves, composite piles, and certain grasses nearby.

Forecasting Fall Allergies: The Future Impact

What’s to come in future allergy seasons, and how will these impacts affect those who suffer from fall allergies as well as those who are currently allergy-free?

The current trend continues: Climate change and the effects of global warming continue to impact us all (yes, even our pets). As a result of climate change and the heightened concentration of environmental pollutants, like ozone, in our air, the length and severity of future allergy seasons are at risk. Truthfully, allergy and asthma sufferers can almost guarantee long-lasting health effects due to fall allergies as time goes on. Those with ragweed or mold allergy symptoms can expect to be worse off than others.

According to the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America (AAFA), a combination of warmer temperatures paired with increased levels of CO2 in our air are the main catalysts for the longer allergy seasons we can expect to experience going forward. As high heat and harmful airborne pollutants begin living in tandem, experts forecast drastic changes to our growing seasons, which can impact flowering schedules and increase ragweed and weed pollen allergen counts.

For ragweed allergy sufferers, researchers found climate change responsible for about 50% of the increase in pollen seasons and 8% of the increase of concentrations, including tree, weed, and grass pollen.

For mold allergy sufferers, you can expect climate change to yield a similar impact. With the normalization of warmer, wetter weather, expect mold growth conditions to be more favorable than ever.

Is Preventing Fall Allergies Possible?

Prevention is possible—but not how you might think. While prescribed medications and avoidance tactics can result in symptom relief, there is an easier (and safer) way to prevent fall allergies. By treating the root problem, not just the symptoms, with clean, Healthy Air, you can experience natural relief from your worst fall allergies!

Preventing Fall Allergies: Four Solutions for Better Indoor Air Quality

Fall allergies are no match for AprilAire! Healthy Air helps prevent airborne contaminants, like ragweed and mold allergy triggers, from impacting the air you breathe at home. Thanks to AprilAire and our whole-house, comprehensive Indoor Air Quality solutions, you can protect the sufferers in your home from air quality threats, like pollutants or fall allergies.

AprilAire Whole-House Air Purifiers

Worry no more! Say ‘goodbye’ to the respiratory irritants that worsen your fall allergies with an AprilAire Whole-House Air Purifier. Designed to help reduce harmful Indoor Air Quality contaminants, like the allergens that trigger a ragweed and mold allergy, AprilAire Whole-House Air Purifiers eliminate unwanted health threats by filling your home with fresh, clean, Healthy Air.

AprilAire MERV 16 Air Filters

Experience the gold standard in Air Filtration and take your Indoor Air Quality to the next level with AprilAire MERV Air Filters! Engineered to be effective for up to 6–12 months, these filters possess the highest Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value (or MERV) recommended for residential use and offer a large, 4-inch surface that’s proven to capture more harmful particles than traditional 1-inch options.

This critical addition to your home’s system helps successfully capture up to 99.9%¹ of airborne allergy and asthma triggers (like ragweed or mold) and capture 98%¹ of airborne viruses.

AprilAire Whole-House Ventilation Solutions

Working in tandem with your AprilAire Whole-House Air Filtration Solutions, an AprilAire Whole-House Ventilation System helps replenish your home with fresh, clean air by acting as your home’s own set of lungs.

As your ventilation system breathes fresh air in, it exhales trapped, stale air out to help dilute the concentration of Indoor Air Quality contaminants that put your health at risk. Ventilation is also key to helping improve the comfortability and efficiency of your Healthy Home!

AprilAire UVC Sanitization Solutions

In addition to protecting the air you breathe, it’s just as important to protect the system that protects your home! An AprilAire UVC Coil Cleaner helps improve your HVAC system’s efficiency—extending longevity and lowering utility costs—as it works to deliver Healthy Air throughout your home.

By killing up to 99.9%² of mold that builds up on the coil of your HVAC system, this chemical-free solution for UVC Sanitization protects your home from the harmful health effects exacerbated by exposure to mold.

Together, these solutions grant you unparalleled peace of mind, keeping everyone in your home breathing easy without worrying about the threat of fall allergies!

Find an AprilAire Healthy Air Professional

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It’s Always Healthy Air Season

When fall allergies won’t give you a breather, AprilAire can! AprilAire Whole-House Healthy Air Solutions help keep you safe from airborne health threats, like allergens or pollutants, that can exacerbate fall allergies.

To start your path toward creating a Healthy Home environment that’s free from contaminants that can trigger your fall allergies or threats like a ragweed or mold allergy that can impact your health, take the first step and Find a Pro near you today.

¹Contaminants removed based on air passing through the filtering system.

²Testing performed on Aspergillus niger mold spores in a sheet metal duct with a new lamp placed 18 inches from the surface.