Yellow Pine Pollen: When will it hit central NC

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Springtime in central North Carolina means warmer temperatures, severe weather and yellow pollen, but we’ve only had two of those things recently.

The yellow pine pollen that we love to hate this time of year hasn’t really shown up yet in central North Carolina, but we expect that to change very soon.

The last few years have brought the yellow coating of pine pollen on nearly everything in early March and even February.

In 2023, the yellow pine pollen started around February 20.

In 2022, the yellow pine pollen started around March 7.

In 2019, the yellow pine pollen started around March 9.

It’s now the second full week of March and we barely have a hint of the yellow pine pollen around central North Carolina, but that yellow pine dust will start to cover everything mostly likely later this week.

South Carolina is in full on yellow pollen mode. Myrtle Beach started seeing light pollen in late February but has been full on covered in yellow dust since March 4. South Carolina has warmer temperatures and saw the pine trees release yellow pine pollen dust from candles on their branches earlier than North Carolina because of that.

The natural progression of the season and expected highs near 80 degrees later this week should prompt pine trees to send dust into the air at higher levels this week.

The yellow pine pollen usually lasts about four to six weeks in central North Carolina. This pollen is usually too large to creep into your nose and sinuses causing allergy problems, but the small tree and grass pollens start to become more numerous this time of year contributing to allergy problems.

Even if the pollen does increase this week, there are good rain chances this weekend to wash it away temporarily, or smear it around.

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