UK Pollen Map: Pollen Count and Hay Fever Forecast Today

Tuesday 6 October: the highest pollen level across these UK cities is low (CAMS model forecast). The UK pollen season is essentially over; the next one starts with hazel and alder in January to March. The map shows pollen in the air today, carried by today's wind.

• London
  low · grass 0 grains/m³
• Manchester
  low · grass 0 grains/m³
• Nottingham
  low · grass 0 grains/m³
• Birmingham
  low · grass 0 grains/m³
• Glasgow
  low · grass 0 grains/m³

Bar length: today's level of the strongest pollen (CAMS forecast).

Level scale (daily mean concentration, grains/m³; US National Allergy Bureau scale, AAAAI, as the UK has no open national scale): trees moderate from 15, high from 90, very high from 1500; grass from 5, 20 and 200; weeds (mugwort) from 10, 50 and 500. People with hay fever can have symptoms at low levels too.

How common is hay fever in the UK?

Hay fever is one of the most common allergies in the UK: estimates range from about one in five to one in four people, and around 95% of sufferers react to grass pollen. Birch is the main tree allergen. The city pages below each explain what drives the season locally.

Pollen calendar

A typical UK year: hazel and alder from January to March, birch from late March to mid-May (the main tree allergen, about one in four hay fever sufferers react to it), grass from mid-May to July, usually in two peaks (early to mid-June and early July), and weeds such as nettle, dock and mugwort from June to September. Scotland runs about two weeks behind the south of England. CAMS does not model hazel, nettle or plane tree.

UK pollen calendar, month by month · Thunderstorm asthma explained

Official sources

• Met Office: pollen forecast
• NHS: hay fever
• Defra UK-AIR: air pollution forecast
• Copernicus CAMS: air quality and pollen forecast charts