How Sommar Works
For most people in the UK summer is a time we look forward to year round, when the rain and drizzle finally stops and we’re afforded a few months of precious sunshine. For hay fever sufferers the reality can often be very different. Grass pollen allergies are the most common type of pollen allergy in the UK, and they’re at their peak from late spring until early summer. Grass pollen can travel surprisingly far on the wind—sometimes well beyond the neighborhood lawn where it originated. Most grass pollen particles tend to be concentrated within a few hundred yards of their source, but under the right conditions (strong winds, low humidity), they may be carried many miles.
Hay fever symptoms in the summer can be so bad that sufferers can find themselves checking the pollen counts on their weather apps every morning. Traditional pollen forecasts are simply based on the number of pollen particles per m3 of air, regardless of the type of pollen. For example, if you’re not sensitive to grass pollen, most pollen forecasts will be completely wrong for you.
The Pollen Engine™
Sommar doesn’t work in the same way as traditional pollen counts from your weather apps.
Our personalised forecasts are powered by our Pollen Engine™. It integrates your allergy test results with a forecast of pollen distribution to generate your own daily score. That means your forecast only reflects pollen that’s likely to trigger your allergies and is present in the air at your location.
Our pollen distribution forecast draws on a variety of sources including real-time feeds from pollen monitoring stations, weather prediction models and data on plant distributions and land use. While we’re very proud of the forecast technology, it’s far from perfect. The next generation of our model will start to use our own network of AI enhanced pollen sensors to provide more accurate forecasts based on a larger number of sample sites across the UK.