Rain may be to blame for brutal California allergy season

UPLAND, Calif. - It's spring time, which usually means allergy season.

If you've been coughing, sneezing and having watery eyes over the last several days, you're not alone.

In fact, health experts tell FOX 11 they haven't seen an allergy season as intense as this year in quite some time.

"Definitely a lot of patients," said pharmacist William Choi. "Especially with the whole a lot of pollens going in the air and a lot of winds going around."

The explosion of plant growth comes after a particularly wet winter, but the high pollen count may be here to stay. In the western U.S., the growing season is now 27 days longer than average, according to Climate Central, a nonprofit focusing on climate research.

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That being said, the demand at the pharmacy counter may not cool down anytime soon.

"Some of the medications that we recommend over the counter is antihistamine, such as Benadryl, Claritin, also Loratadine. There's a lot of actually antihistamines out there that pharmacists can actually recommend," Choi said.