This is the pollen and mold report for Oct. 6, 2008.
Exposure to pollen and molds can increase asthma symptoms and trigger hay fever or seasonal allergy symptoms. Common symptoms include sneezing, runny nose, nasal congestion, coughing, and itchy, watery eyes. If you believe that you suffer from allergies, contact your doctor about the best way to manage your condition. This report is provided as a public service by Franklin Memorial Hospital for the Farmington area.
| Type of Pollen | Count Number | Health Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Tree |
0
|
Low
|
| Grass |
674
|
Very High
|
| Golden Rod |
0
|
Low
|
| Ragweed |
73
|
Moderate
|
| Prevalent Tree Pollen |
–
|
|---|---|
| Other Pollens Seen |
N/A
|
| Mold Count Level |
302
|
| Health Risk from Mold |
Low
|
| Mold Types Seen |
N/A
|
This is the second highest ragweed count you’ve shown for the entire season (73 on Oct. 6; the highest was 85 on Aug. 19). Most of the ragweed counts in between have been too low to be credible, compared to my symptoms, and this one is too high.
Back at the end of July I posted a comment here (on the July 27 report) questioning your grass pollen figures, which were unbelievably high. I received an e-mail reply from Suzanne O’Brien, Laboratory Manager at FMH, saying that the grass count was affected by landscaping work being done next to the pollen collecting apparatus. I urged that the explanation be posted as a caution at the Daily Bulldog, because most people consulting this site for pollen figures want to know a typical figure for the Farmington area, not a figure for one unusual spot on the hospital grounds. But the explanation has never appeared here as far as I’ve seen. Meantime the absurdly high grass pollen figures continue: this page (Oct. 6) shows 674 or “Very High,” even though the grass pollen season is long since over.
I’ve put off commenting on the ragweed figures, which all along seemed too low, but this sudden spike on Oct. 6 is just too bizarre to ignore. Something is seriously wrong with your data. There may be a technical explanation of what causes the figures, but it is pointless and misleading to post them “as a public service … for the Farmington area” when they are plainly not typical of the area.
When I first saw that the Daily Bulldog was posting actual pollen counts rather than the mere qualitiative descriptions (“high”, “medium,” “low”) that one finds at so many web sites, I was pleased and sent an appreciative e-mail to the Daily Bulldog. But experience has shown that the figures posted here are useless. The qualitative reports from (for instance) http://www.pollen.com have turned out to be much closer to my actual experience of symptoms.
Please correct the technical problems that are causing your inaccurate figures, and post an explanation of what the problem was and how it was corrected, so that Farmington allergy sufferers can know that we’re getting accurate information. Or if you can’t correct the technical problems, it would be better to stop posting any figures at all — and to post an apology for the misleading data that has been appearing for months now.