Thunderstorm asthma warning for Victoria as spring weather arrives

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The thunderstorm asthma season has begun in Victoria. Authorities warn this season could be worse than previous springs due to dry winter conditions and forecast rain until December.

Transcript

00:00It's a very particular type of condition that causes these events.

00:07We're talking about pollen in the air.

00:09It's linked to a particular type of grass, rye grass, as well as very certain weather

00:15conditions.

00:16So things like thunderstorms are a cool change in the weather with high winds.

00:20Now those winds pick up the pollens, essentially they break them down into small particles

00:25and those small particles are what you breathe in and essentially cause these asthma conditions.

00:32Now authorities are warning that this year it is a bit of an average at the moment thunderstorm

00:38asthma season that we're expecting, but it's really dependent on the next couple of weeks

00:43and months even in terms of what the weather does and that could essentially change that

00:48prediction.

00:49So here's a little bit of what the BOM had to say earlier today.

00:53The conditions out there, the soil moisture's quite dry, so there hasn't been as much grass

00:58growth as previous years, but if we do see an increase in rainfall in the next few weeks,

01:04month then we could be heading towards a more normal amount of grass growth and so therefore

01:12a slightly higher than average thunderstorm asthma risk season.

01:17So the advice to people, particularly those who suffer asthma and hay fever is to book

01:22in and see your GP now to make sure that you have a plan in place.

01:26If you need any sort of asthma puffer or medication you can get that under control.

01:30Make sure you're doing that early and don't wait for these high risk days.

01:34At the moment today it's a green day, it's a relatively low risk day, but you can keep

01:38on top of the alerts via the Vic emergency app or website.

01:42They usually have a three day rolling forecast so that you can see what the risk levels are

01:48and make sure you are keeping your medication on you.

01:52The best advice on those high risk days for people who do suffer asthma or hay fever is

01:56to stay indoors.

01:57Now we do remember back in 2016 there was that extremely bad thunderstorm asthma event

02:02where ten people died and thousands of others were impacted and had difficulties breathing.

02:08So this is something that the health authorities are taking very seriously.

02:11They're reminding people to stay vigilant, make sure you do book in that GP appointment

02:16and you are prepared in case there is a high risk day.

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