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Sunday, January 18, 2009

CEDAR POLLEN


If you live in the mountain juniper belt you will know exactly what this is. This morning around 9:45 am the temperature must have just been perfect for the junipers to release their pollen. Just a slight breeze resulted in huge clouds of pollen puffing into the air. Within a matter of seconds hundreds of trees were adding their contribution to the air. It looked as though there was a fire burning in the trees. Fifteen minutes later, as we drove out, the city of Austin was was barely visible. The hills lying under a misty cloud. For allergy sufferers this was not a day to spend outside, even though it was going to be a beautiful day with temperatures in the 70s. Spoilsports.

12 comments:

  1. Oh my! Pollen? I've never seen this type of cloud before. How neat you caught this picture!

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  2. I've heard that the cedar pollen can be bad in and around Austin, but I didn't know you could actually see puffs of it, like smoke. That's interesting, especially from afar...

    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

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  3. that pollen cloud is so thick it looks like fog! What a shame it happened on such a beautiful Central Texas day!

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  4. I wish I could have captured the cedars closer to the house but by the time I ran to get my camera they had done their thing. Now they will reload and do the whole thing over again.

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  5. I spent the entire day inside except for a quick jaunt out to put some orange peel in the composter. The reason why I didn't linger was because my allergies were extremely bad this morning--I took my allergy pill and still had to wait for an hour or two for it to kick in, and in the process went through half a box of Kleenex.

    And this explains it all.

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  6. We were outside with the kids this morning and noticed the "fog" then realized that it was intermittently thicker then lighter, then thicker. That's when I looked over at some trees in our yard and saw the huge plumes of pollen rising. Boy, I'm happy none of us has allergies...yet.

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  7. I've been on my allergy medicine for a couple of weeks, in preparation for cedar season. But I could feel it anyway this morning, and now I know why. Great capture.

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  8. Great photo, Jenny! I've seen that phenomenon a few time but never caught it with a camera. At our previous house the decks and parked cars would be covered with the yellow dust.
    Drive through our old neighborhood at the right time and you can catch the scent of the pollen, too.

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  9. Bonnie- You are so lucky
    Katina and Pam- I only get symptoms when the count is very high. Yesterday we were inside all day but today I am working outside. Time to get the Neti pot out!
    Annie- This is a first for me. I think the trees were loaded because of the cold weather. They'll be recharging for another dose in a few days.

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  10. Holy crap, that's quite a picture. No wonder I haven't been able to breathe all day, even though I've been taking preventative antihistamines and local honey since November. I'm so stoned on allergy medicine right now that my head feels like it's about to fall off. But at least my nose is (temporarily) working again.

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  11. It reminds me of early spring in the south, when the live oaks cover everything in my garden! I've not seen a cloud of pollen though - that's something new for sure!

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  12. Oh My! Now I know why I was having such a hard time breathing this weekend. Great picture.

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