What do surfers and pine pollen have in common?

A strong south wind blew up the Boardwalk Wednesday and overnight into Thursday this week. In sailing talk, the gusts that bent the trees in the early morning hours Thursday were strong enough to blow the dogs off the porch. According to the WindAlert website, referred to by windsurfers, boaters, surfers and others, the strongest gusts in Rehoboth came between 2 and 6 a.m. when several approached 50 miles per hour.

Karen Scotten, who works in the Maritime Exchange Tower at the point of Cape Henlopen, said the wind’s been blowing hard for so many days now that she’s stopped paying attention.  “I know it blew hard overnight,” she said Thursday morning – “probably 45 to 50 – but it didn’t rattle the toilet bowl too much. There were lots of strong gusts but not much duration. It’s been steady out of the south.”

Those south winds have been blowing pollen from the forests of Sussex northward toward New Castle County. There, atop a roof on a building south of old New Castle, near the shores of the Delaware River, a gauge tracks pollen levels throughout the year.  On Wednesday this week, the gauge measured the highest concentrations of pollen that typically occur throughout the year.  On the National Allergy Bureau’s website, a graph shows Wednesday’s pollen levels at the Delaware site in the red zone and warns Very High Concentrations.

Michael McDowell is a certified pollen counter with the state’s Air Quality Management section. McDowell said the last couple of weeks of April are typically the worst time of the year for pollen in Delaware.  “Of course that’s in New Castle County,” said McDowell.  “It’s probably a bit earlier in Sussex County.”

Oak pollen currently tops the list of what’s being counted.  “Oaks are the most prolific pollen producers and they really come on this time of the year.  They’re responsible for most of that greenish-yellow haze that people are finding on their cars.”

Though McDowell considers himself “just a counter” and knows little about allergies, he said he’s heard anecdotally that oak pollen is one of the most bothersome pollens for people and their running and stuffy spring noses.

To become a certified pollen counter, McDowell has to study a variety of pollens through a microscope and be able to answer questions on a written test.

After the National Allergy Bureau ascertains McDowell and the Delaware division know what they’re talking about, they what they’re talking about, they accept his reports as reliable and post them on their site.  McDowell said the pollen counts are also available on the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control website. The report from Wednesday’s count shows the major pollen sources this week are oak, sweet gum and mulberry.

Closer to the coast, the reproductive parts of pines and other evergreens are swollen with knots of pollen awaiting release as green clouds that literally fog the pine forests between Lewes and Rehoboth. Pollen contains sperm which fertilizes the female parts of plants.  Plants with pollen that makes its way to the flowering parts of other plants by blowing on the wind – as opposed to sticky pollen carried by insects – are called anemophilous which means wind-loving. Pine pollen is particularly suited for wind distribution.  The tiny pollen grains are fitted with twin air bladders that keep them airborne, which makes their green clouds more visible in the pine woods.  McDowell said they’re particularly easy to count because the air bladders make each pollen grain look like a Mickey Mouse hat.

That’s the kind of science I like
The next time you want to impress your surfing or sailing friends, ask them what they have in common with pine pollen.  When they look at you stupidly, roll out this great new word.  “You’re both anemophilous.” Just don’t ask me how to pronounce it.  I can get through Mickey Mouse just fine, but he’s American, not Latin.