Grass pollen seasons in Poland against a background of the meteorological conditions

Abstract

The paper refers to the estimation of Poaceae pollen seasons in Poland in selected areas. The aim of the study was to present the long-term variability of the start, end and duration of grass pollen seasons and the seasonal pollen index (SPI) in Poland against a background of the meteorological conditions over pollen seasons. The study was performed in eight Polish cities in 1992-2014 (the common seasons were 2003-2012). Pollen season start was relatively stable in the studied period, the seasons began about the 10th of May, a bit earlier in the south part of Poland. Pollen season ends were more changeable in comparison to the season start and fluctuated from the middle of July to the middle of September. SPI clearly depended on temperature and precipitation in April-August. Daily maximum pollen concentrations were achieved between the end of May and the first decade of July and no evident relationship between this day and weather conditions was found, apart from 2004.