Hay fever sufferers will be sneezing longer and louder this year thanks to unseasonably warm weather in mid-February causing huge quantities of cedar pollen to be dispersed, according to Weathernews Inc.
The hay fever season arrived early in Tokyo and 14 prefectures including the entire Kanto region, with the spring pollen period starting in Tokyo on Monday, 14 days earlier than last year, and five days earlier than in an average year, it said.
Cedar pollen counts this year are expected to be 6.83 times higher than previous year in Gunma Prefecture, 5.64 times higher in Kanagawa Prefecture, 4.26 times higher in Tokyo, and 3.13 times higher in Nagasaki Prefecture, according to the firm.
Pollen counts this year could be greatly higher this year across the whole nation, the firm said.
Other than the Kanto region, pollen season has begun in Shizuoka, Ehime, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Oita, and Kumamoto prefectures. The dispersal of massive amounts of cedar pollen is expected to continue until the middle of March in eastern and western Japan.
In the Tohoku region, pollen is expected to start spreading at the beginning of March.
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