Why you may be seeing yellow 'dust' in Saskatoon

If you've noticed a thin yellow dusting of pollen in Saskatoon this spring — you're not alone.

According to the University of Saskatchewan Gardenine’s Helen Shook, it’s the result of last year’s dry and hot conditions.

“What's happened here is this has triggered a survival mechanism, so the plant is threatened, it wants to survive, and one of the ways it can carry on is by producing a lot of babies,” said Shook.

Shook says deciduous trees rely on insects to spread pollen, and the culprit for the yellow dust is coniferous trees; pines, firs, and spruces.

Yellow pollen is seen in Saskatoon. (Pat McKay/CTV News Saskatoon)

“This tree has evolved such that the pollen is moved by wind, and so we have a lot of cones, male cones are producing pollen on the tree, therefore we have a whole lot of pollen,” she said.

Shook says the amount of pollen in the air and on surfaces can be tough on allergy sufferers but believes it won’t last much longer.

“What I'm seeing in these trees is that the cones are maturing, they're puffing out less pollen, and this should settle down in the next week or two,” she said.

And, she says, the cooler weather we’re seeing this spring means we likely won’t see this pollen event in 2023.

“We're getting a lot more rain, the trees are going to like that. They probably won't kick their system into overdrive and next year probably will be better.”

Allergy sufferers may also find this season more fraught because of the similarity between allergy symptoms and those of COVID-19.

However, pediatric respirologist Dr. Darryl Adamko says symptoms of allergic reactions will differ that of COVID-19.

“COVID has a fever and you're really exhausted,” he said.

“Whereas this is different, just itchy, watery eyes and sneezing, and then if you have asthma then it could also be shortness of breath and coughing, a really bad cough and maybe hearing wheezing, coughing at night is bad.”

Adamko suggests a non-sedating antihistamine for itchy, watery eyes and a nasal steroid for sneezing, and an inhaled steroid for asthma.