Tuesday 13 October: the pollen level in Edinburgh is low (CAMS model forecast). The most common pollen in the air is grass: 0 grains/m³ as a daily mean. The UK pollen season is essentially over; the next one starts with hazel and alder in January to March. Wednesday: low. Thursday: low. Friday: low.
Hay fever in Edinburgh
Edinburgh lies in the drier east of Scotland, between the Firth of Forth and the Pentland Hills. Birch is the main tree pollen and peaks from late April into May, about two weeks after London. Grass follows from June to July; the arable and grass farmland of the Lothians lies to the south and east, so warm days with a southerly or easterly wind bring the most. Its lower rainfall means fewer rainy days to wash pollen out than in Glasgow.
Air quality in Edinburgh
CAMS forecasts a daily mean of 2.6 µg/m³ of PM2.5 today, below the WHO 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³. Air pollution can make hay fever and asthma symptoms worse. Official forecast: Defra UK-AIR.
When plants release pollen
Pollen calendar and where the data comes from
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.
CAMS (a European ensemble of models, median) computes every hour how much alder, birch, grass, mugwort, ragweed and olive pollen is in the air over Europe, on a grid of about 10 km, four days ahead. On the map, particles start where the model puts pollen in the air today and drift on the ECMWF wind. UK pollen calendar
Official sources
- Met Office: pollen forecast
- NHS: hay fever
- Defra UK-AIR: air pollution forecast
- Copernicus CAMS: air quality and pollen forecast charts
