Parts of US see record start to allergy season

(CNN) - We’re seeing a record-early start to allergy season.

Allergy-triggering pollen is hitting the southern and eastern U.S. earlier this year than ever before.

Waves of the yellow-green dust are flooding the air and coating everything from car windshields to sidewalks.

In Atlanta, the pollen count climbed to the “extremely high” range Monday, the earliest it has done so in 30 years of record-keeping.

By Tuesday, the tree pollen count had doubled.

In Washington D.C., the first “high” tree pollen count appeared a month ago, hitting a record high for this time of year.

It comes after an exceptionally warm February in the South and East and is part of a trend blamed on climate change.

A Wednesday report from the nonprofit group Climate Central found that allergy season has gotten longer on average since 1970.