Meteorological factors affecting daily urticaceae pollen counts in southwest Spain

The influence of meteorological factors on daily Urticaceae pollen counts w ere studied in Cordoba (southwest Spain) in 1996 and 1997. The daily Urtica ceae pollen concentrations were obtained by using a Hirst-type volumetric s ampler, and meteorological data were obtained from the Cordoba airport, loc ated near the sampling site. The highest correlation between pollen concent ration and meteorological parameters was obtained during non-rainy seasons. Temperature was found to be the most important meteorological parameter in fluencing pollen counts in spring, as temperature is the main reason for th e increase of pollen concentration in the atmosphere. In autumn, humidity w as another important parameter influencing pollen counts. Rain, however, di d not appear to be significant. The influence of the pollen concentration o f the 2 previous days and the pollen concentration of the previous day has been studied. During periods with low precipitation, the pollen concentrati on of the previous day was a useful predictor of Urticaceae pollen concentr ations for the following day.