Why we built this
If you suffer from hay fever, you’ve probably checked a pollen forecast that told you something vague like “moderate” for your entire region — with no breakdown by species, no hour-by-hour detail, and no way of knowing whether the birch pollen drifting in from 50 miles upwind is about to ruin your afternoon.
We built Pollen Count because allergy sufferers deserve better than that.
What makes our forecasts different
Most pollen services rely on simple models that estimate what’s growing near you. We take a fundamentally different approach: atmospheric transport modelling — the same class of techniques used in weather forecasting and air quality prediction.
Our system models how pollen is emitted from vegetation, lifted into the atmosphere, carried by the wind, and deposited at ground level. This means we tell you not just what’s flowering nearby, but what’s actually arriving at your location, hour by hour, including pollen blown in from tens or hundreds of kilometres away.
Key features of our forecasting approach:
- Sub-kilometre spatial resolution. Not county-level or city-level — hyper local predictions, accounting for terrain and land use.
- Hourly temporal resolution. Four days of hour-by-hour forecasts, so you can plan around the peaks rather than just knowing “today is bad.”
- 39 individual species. From Silver Birch and Timothy Grass to Olive and Japanese Cedar, we break down exactly which pollen types are in the air — because knowing it’s “tree pollen season” isn’t much help if you’re only allergic to oak.
Who we are
Pollen Count is built by a small team of scientists and engineers with backgrounds in atmospheric modelling, data science, and software development. Our forecasting approach draws on the latest peer-reviewed research in atmospheric transport, pollen emission modelling, and phenology (the study of how seasonal and climatic conditions affect biological events like flowering).
We’re based in the United Kingdom and operate independently — we’re not owned by a pharmaceutical company, a weather network, or an advertising platform. Our goal is to provide the most accurate and useful pollen information available, anywhere in the world.
What we cover
We currently provide forecasts for over 450 cities across 100+ countries, in 16 languages. Our coverage includes:
- Trees — Silver Birch, English Oak, Olive, Japanese Cedar, London Plane, Hazel, Common Alder, Common Ash, and more
- Grasses — Timothy, Ryegrass, Bermuda Grass, Orchard Grass, and more
- Weeds — Common Ragweed, Mugwort, Stinging Nettle, Plantain, Sagebrush, and more
Each city page includes localised information about the dominant pollen sources, seasonal patterns, and environmental factors that affect pollen levels in that area.
The app
The Pollen Count app is available on Android and iOS. It includes everything on the website plus:
- Smart alerts — pick a species and severity threshold, and get notified 2–24 hours before levels rise at any saved location.
- Interactive pollen maps — scrub through every forecast hour and watch conditions shift in real time.
- Symptom diary — log how you feel each day. After 10 entries, the app analyses which pollen types correlate with your symptoms, helping you identify your likely triggers with confidence scores.
Our approach to privacy
We take a privacy-first approach to everything we build. We don’t require accounts, we don’t collect personal information, and all location processing happens on your device. You can read our full Privacy Policy for details.
Get in touch
We welcome feedback, bug reports, and suggestions. You can reach us at [email protected] 🙂