Thunderstorm asthma hit Melbourne city in 2016. It has been a living mystery for many climatologists, environmentalists, and even geologists. This event that blew Melbourne city has been the most severe one ever enlisted and claimed the lives of nearly 10 people. And thus left everyone associated with it in bewilderment.
What is thunderstorm asthma?
Thunderstorm asthma is a condition when a strong storm hits a place and besprinkles allergen particles with it. These particles may be pollens, insects, latex, drug, food, and many more. The journal PLOS One has published a new model that tells that thunderstorm asthma is a combination of many things out together. For this, the American Lung Association got very wary about the whole situation and warned people suffering from various lung diseases. In general, people who were highly affected by the this were children, people having hay fever, or even suffer from ryegrass allergy.
Also Read: NASA’s Ingenuity’s flight on Mars
Why is it called asthma?
When a guzzling mixes with it the huge amount of dust, pollen, and other tiny grains and particles, it stuffs up the atmosphere it hits. And thus making it extremely difficult even for normal people to breathe. This condition further worsens for people who are already suffering from some lung condition or asthma. It becomes difficult for them to breathe, experience uncontrolled coughing, swelling, breathlessness, etc. All of this is often accompanied by wheezing or whistling sounds while coughing.
Thunderstorm Asthma- a rare occurrence
Thunderstorms though are a common phenomenon, but an asthmatic attack accompanied with it is quite rare. The first-ever such phenomenon was recorded in the year 1983 and 22 have been recorded since then. Kathryn Emmerson who is a senior researcher at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) shared important information.
Emerson quotes that, “The event occurred at the peak of the hay fever season, and most patients were suffering from an allergic response in their airways”. He also adds that rye pollen is one of the highly culpable grains responsible for thunderstorm asthma.
