Driving in winter? Be prepared and stay safe

February 21, 2021

Avoid cold weather driving disasters with these tips

Prepare your car—and yourself—for winter driving conditions
Plan your trip with common sense
Drive extra carefully
If you do get caught in a storm

Snow, sleet, ice, and below-freezing temperatures all have an effect on driving conditions. During winter, safety depends on driver performance in winter hazards, good vehicle maintenance—and common sense. These tips will help you and your car weather the winter.

Prepare your car—and yourself—for winter driving conditions

Be prepared for driving in inclement and freezing weather. Start with these suggestions.

Understand how your car behaves in the snow. While features like anti-lock brakes and all-weather tires can be advantageous, every car performs differently. If possible, practice stopping, starting, and turning in a big, empty, snowy parking lot to get the feel of your wheels in the snow.
Make sure your battery is charged and working optimally. Cold weather adversely affects battery performance, so check it before the temperature drops.
Be sure to keep your gas tank full. Stormy weather or traffic delays may force you to change routes or turn back. A fuller gas tank will also prevent your car’s gas-line from freezing.
Change your oil filter and maybe your oil. The oil in your car thickens in cold weather and (depending on the manufacturer’s recommendations for your vehicle) a thinner grade of oil will help your car run more smoothly in the winter.
Make sure your wiper fluid contains anti-freeze, so the spray doesn’t freeze up in cold weather. Consider buying winter wiper blades, which prevent ice and snow from hardening on the wiper.
Keep windshield and windows clear. Keep a snowbrush and scraper in your vehicle at all times. Your car’s defroster can be supplemented by wiping the windows with a clean cloth to improve visibility.
Make sure that your tires have good tread and keep them properly inflated—both are essential to safe winter driving. And while all-weather tires are sufficient for some, if the conditions in your area tend towards snow and ice, consider winterizing your car with snow tires.
Check your exhaust pipe to make sure it is clear. A blocked pipe could cause a leakage of carbon monoxide gas into your car when the engine is running.
Pack your trunk for emergencies. A snow shovel and a bag of salt (or kitty litter) will help you dig your wheels out of a ditch and give them traction on snow or ice; a blanket will keep you warm and bottles of water will keep you hydrated in case you get stuck.

Plan your trip with common sense

A bad weather accident can happen whether you’re on a two-hour drive or a short hop to a dentist appointment. Take precautions before starting your ride.

Allow extra time to arrive at your destination. Trips can take longer during winter than other times of the year, especially if you encounter storm conditions or icy roads. And driving in inclement weather is stressful enough without the added pressure of being late, which might cloud your safe driving judgment.
Don’t warm up your car vehicle in an enclosed area, such as a garage. This can cause toxic carbon monoxide to build up.
Fully charge your cellphone and make sure to have your car charger in case you’re running late or need to phone help if you get stuck or have an emergency. But avoid the temptation of using the phone while driving, as it can be a dangerous distraction. Always pull over if you need to make the call.
Monitor the weather conditions before beginning your trip, not just at your departure point but also at your destination. If it seems like the roads will be too hazardous, say if an ice storm, hurricane, tornado, flood, hail or other severe weather is expected anywhere on the route you are taking, change your travel plans.

Drive extra carefully

“Failure to keep in proper lane or running off the road” and “driving too fast for conditions” are the two of the most frequent poor driver behaviors, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Bad weather makes these behaviors exponentially more dangerous, so take additional precautions on the road.

Drive slowly because accelerating, stopping and turning all take longer on snow-covered or icy roads.
Leave more distance than usual between your vehicle and the one just ahead of you to give yourself at least 10 seconds to come to a complete stop. Cars and motorcycles usually need a minimum of 3 seconds to halt completely even when traveling on dry pavement.
Be careful when driving over bridges and roadways that aren’t exposed to sunlight—they are often icy when other areas are not.
Know your route and be especially alert to avoid sudden stops and quick direction changes, which might cause spinouts or collisions with cars on slippery roads.
Be alert to animals that are often bolder in their hunt for food when there is snow on the ground and wander on or near roads. Around known habitats, take steps to avoid collisions with deer or other animals.
Don’t activate your cruise control when driving on a slippery surface. You want to maintain full control of your vehicle.

If you do get caught in a storm

Sometimes, despite best efforts, you’ll find yourself driving in bad weather. In that case:

Stay tuned to weather reports and weather-related accidents on your radio or GPS. Change routes to avoid the worst of the storm or its havoc.
Don’t try to drive your way out of it. Seek shelter for both yourself and your car and wait for the storm to pass.

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Afghanistan’s LGBTQ community say they’re being hunted down after Taliban takeover

As soon as the Taliban recaptured Kabul in August, Balkhi and her family went into hiding. The names of Balkhi and five other LGBTQ people inside Afghanistan who spoke to CNN for this story have been changed for safety reasons — Balkhi chose to use the name of a famous female Afghan poet who she considered “brave” and a “hero.” The 20-year-old university student is one of the hundreds of LGBTQ people in Afghanistan who are urging advocates outside the country to help them escape the Taliban regime. Two LGBTQ activists outside of Afghanistan — Ritu Mahendru and Nemat Sadat — told CNN they had separate lists each with hundreds of names of people who want to flee. “The situation gets worse every day … fear of arrest is part of life now and I have such stress that I can’t even sleep,” Balkhi told CNN by text message from an undisclosed location. It’s not clear yet how severely the Taliban will enforce its strict religious laws against Afghanistan’s LGBTQ citizens. No official statement has been made, but in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper in July, one Taliban judge said there were only two punishments for homosexuality — stoning or being crushed under a wall. In response to a request for comment, a Taliban spokesman told CNN they had no official plans for their LGBTQ population yet. “When there is anything I will keep you updated,” he said. (Also check this site to find complete guidance on all LGBTQ flags). The LGBTQ people in Afghanistan CNN spoke with said they had heard reports of friends, partners, and members of their community being attacked and raped. And they were terrified that Islamic fundamentalists and vigilante groups emboldened by the new regime could do the same to them — or worse. Balkhi said one gay man in her neighborhood had been raped after being found by the Taliban. Some LGBTQ people told CNN they have been hiding in single rooms and basements for weeks, staring at the walls or endlessly watching their phones for any hint of a way out. Some are being hidden by friends who are helping keep watch or bringing them supplies. Others told CNN they are alone, isolated, and running out of food. But all said they feel abandoned by the international community, with evacuation flights out of the country now finished and the Taliban pushing to normalize relations with Western nations. LGBTQ people say they need help to escape Taliban fighters before they are discovered and forced to face the new regime’s brutal laws. Prejudice resurgent Even before the Taliban took power in August, life wasn’t easy for LGBTQ people in Afghanistan. A 2020 US State Department report on Afghanistan said LGBTQ people faced “discrimination, assault, and rape” as well as harassment and arrest by authorities. “Homosexuality was widely seen as taboo and indecent,” the report said. Under the previous government, sexual relations between people of the same gender were illegal and punishable by up to two years in jail. Those laws were not always enforced, but they did leave LGBTQ people open to extortion and abuse by authorities, according to a UK government report published in 2013. The LGBTQ people in Afghanistan that CNN spoke to said before the Taliban takeover they regularly faced discrimination, including verbal abuse and the threat of physical violence, but there was at least a space in society for them. Nemat Sadat, an LGBTQ Afghan author who lives in the United States, said the country’s gay, lesbian and transgender citizens had helped the country’s cultural life flourish in the 20 years since the Taliban’s last rule. “(Transgender people) dominated the makeup industry and worked as makeup artists … There were concerts and fashion shows and all of this was dominated by the LGBTQ community,” he said. LGBTQ people who spoke to CNN said while very few felt comfortable or safe enough to be openly gay, lesbian or transgender before the takeover, many were able to quietly build lives true to their identities. Balkhi said for a while she had a girlfriend, who she was able to see secretly on weekends. Hilal, a 25-year-old gay man, said he used to have a boyfriend and had even worked openly to advocate for LGBTQ rights in Afghanistan. Now in hiding, Hilal said few predicted how fast the situation in Afghanistan would deteriorate. “We couldn’t imagine that the government would collapse so quickly,” he said. Living in fear After the Taliban took charge, Balkhi said being a woman had effectively ended her dreams of finishing her university studies in Afghanistan. As a lesbian, she faces an even graver threat. In an interview with Reuters in August, one of the Taliban’s top decision-makers, Waheedullah Hashimi, said under the fundamentalist group the country would be governed by “Sharia law and that is it.” Under the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law, homosexuality can be punished by death. Balkhi said when she and her family heard the Taliban had entered the city, they went into hiding, leaving their home in Kabul and moving to a new secret location to escape detection. “The Taliban have exact information about every family here,” she said. Balkhi fears her family could be attacked or killed for knowingly hiding an LGBTQ person. Unable to sleep out of fear of being discovered, she said she is worried if the Taliban find her, they will stone her to death for being a lesbian. One gay man who has been in touch with Sadat, the US-based LGBTQ advocate, said he told him he watched from his hiding place in the ceiling as Taliban fighters beat the friend who had refused to divulge his location. Sadat shared a video with CNN of the beating, taken by the man in secret. Another gay man CNN is calling Hasan said he had been hiding in a friend’s house in Kabul for more than a month and was running out of food and money. A week ago, Hasan got >>Read more
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Unclaimed life insurance benefits

5 reasons your life insurance benefits might go unclaimed Sometimes life insurance benefits are left unclaimed after a policyholder dies. This is an unfortunate problem under any circumstances, but especially now, when many people are struggling financially. What is more, this is an easily preventable outcome. 1. The life insurance company and the policy owner have lost track of each other The main mode of contact between you and financial institutions (banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, investment management companies, etc.) is by “snail” mail. As with anyone with whom you wish to keep in contact after you move, you must tell them your new mailing address or they will lose track of you. The U.S. Post Office will only forward first-class mail for a year to a forwarding address, and the sender is not aware that the mail is being forwarded to a new address as the Post Office does not inform the financial institution of the change. If you move, immediately inform every financial institution directly of your new mailing address, including your life insurer. Of course, the same principle applies to other forms of communication: tell the life insurance company of new phone numbers (including your mobile number), email address, etc. 2. The life insurance company doesn’t know the insured has died Life insurance companies typically do not know when a policyholder dies until they are informed of his or her death, usually by the policy’s beneficiary. Even if a policy is in a premium-paying stage and the payments stop, the insurance company has no reason to assume that the insured has died. Moreover, there are policies that have benefits called cash values, with an Automatic Premium Loan (APL) feature. An APL policy borrows money from the cash value to pay a premium due if the money does not come in by the end of the grace period; thus preventing an unintended lapse of the policy, which would have the disastrous effect of loss of the entire death benefit should the insured die after premiums due were not paid. Under an APL, the policy would continue in full force until all of the cash value had been borrowed, at which time it would lapse. Also, many policies are in a stage in which no premiums are due. Some life insurance is bought with a single premium or a small number of premiums due (such as 10 or 20 annual payments), but the insured might live a long time after the premium payments end. Thus the life insurance company would stop sending premium notices after all premiums were paid. Moreover, there is no master list of who is alive and who is dead. The Social Security Administration has the closest thing to such a list—a file on its income beneficiaries (those receiving retirement or disability income from Social Security) to record those who are alive and who have deceased, so as to avoid making payments that are not legitimate—but this does not cover everyone. Millions of people, in fact, are not covered by Social Security (federal employees, state employees in four states, railroad employees, etc.), and therefore would not appear on this list. Employers who sponsor group life insurance to active employees will notify the life insurer if a covered employee dies. And, it is possible that the deceased would also have individual life insurance policies with the same company that issues the group policy, but this becomes less likely when people switch jobs but do not switch individual life insurers. Remember to provide your beneficiaries with the name and contact information for your life insurance company, so they can report your death and file a claim. 3. The life insurance company is unable to locate the policy’s beneficiaries There might be one or both of two problems in this scenario. The first is that the descriptions of the beneficiaries might be insufficiently precise for the life insurance company to locate them. This would be the case, for example, if the beneficiary designation says “my wife” or “my children” without naming them specifically and, ideally, providing a Social Security number and a current address for each one. Be sure to provide detailed personal identification information about every beneficiary to each life insurer from whom you have coverage for death benefits so that they can easily be located and their identity confirmed. The other problem is that, even if the company knows who it is looking for, it may be very difficult to track down a beneficiary, especially as it may be many years, or even decades, since the policy was taken out. Keep in mind that, for privacy reasons, until the death occurs, the life insurer cannot even respond to a beneficiary’s inquiry as to whether they are a beneficiary or not. 4. Beneficiaries don’t know that a life insurance policy exists under which they are beneficiaries It may come as a surprise, but sometimes beneficiaries do not know that they are covered by the insured’s individual or group life insurance policy. The insured may have a variety of reasons for keeping this information secret from the beneficiaries, but an unfortunate consequence is that the benefits could end up unclaimed because no one actually realized that they could make a claim. I Tell the beneficiaries of your life insurance (both individual policies and group coverages) that when you die they will be entitled to death benefits. And provide them with the name and location of the life insurance company as well as the policy number. 5. The original life insurance company no longer exists or cannot be located The name of the company that sold the original life insurance policy may have changed, possibly making it more difficult for the beneficiary to locate the insurer in order to make a claim. Life insurance companies are not any different from companies in any other industry in this respect—but the multi-decade length of the contract can transform this type of normal corporate development into an extra hurdle for beneficiaries. >>Read more
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Kamagra Reviews 2020! How Do These Pills Work?

Well, there are many aspects of a man’s life. It encompasses his education, career, and relationships. When the relationship grows into marriage. The most difficult challenge is to lead a happy married life. And to lead a happy married life you need to fulfill the needs of your partner. Needs always doesn’t refer to material things like TV, fridge, furniture. Sexual needs are also equally important. If your partner is not sexually satisfied, this may result in tension in your relationship leading to frustration, anxiety, depression, and other psychological ailments. These are the basic factors that allow a third person to enter their marriage. Satisfying a woman is not an easy task as it looks. Only sexual arousal is not necessary. And due to over masturbation, most men are suffering from erectile dysfunction (ED). Sexual pleasure is also a part of the life process, just as breathing, eating. To provide a solution to this problem, Kamagra is available to heat up the moment. What is Kamagra? Kamagra 100 is a treatment of erectile dysfunction (ED) just as Viagra. If some online websites are offering Kamagra tablets. Be aware of its ingredient as it may contain another counterfeit substance instead of Sildenafil Citrate which may worsen your condition. In India though it is legal and sold by many leading online pharmacy websites and applications. How does it work? Kamagra is the solution to the problem name erectile dysfunction. In ED the penis is unable to retain its erection for a long duration. The biological reason is that less amount of blood is flowing into the penis at the time of erection. The reason may be anxiety, depression, or alcohol and smoking habits also contribute to erectile dysfunction. While changing lifestyle and habits takes much time. For the time being Kamagra can be your solution. Kamagra 100 increases the flow into the penis resulting in erection for a long duration. How it is taken? Kamagra in its original form is a tablet. But as modifications take on, Kamagra jelly is also available. Tablets need water to dissolve but the gel is a little impatient one, it dissolves without water on your tongue. Is it safe? Well in this matter there are certain complications. Kamagra Jelly is illegal in the UK and if found buying or selling you may land yourself in serious trouble. But it is still available through illegal online stores. In India it is legal but there’s a reason why the UK has not licensed it. People are unaware of their side effects. Side-effects may range from minor headaches to major ones like the loss of vision or color blinding. So be careful, about its composition and consult the doctor before use. Why is it used then? In spite of its side effects and safety complications, it is used in various parts of the world because it is much cheaper than other medicines for erectile dysfunction in the market. Except in developed countries, people prefer quantity over quality. But if we want to limit the use of Kamagra and sildenafil citrate tablets, then we need to change our lifestyle. Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and drug abuse are the main factors of ED. You must be wondering what the connection between tobacco and testosterone is. It’s simple there is no rocket science involved. The erection depends on the circulation of blood in the vessels on your penis. More is the blood circulation; more is the erection. On smoking, the blood vessels are disrupted in the body leading to less or no flow of blood in the penis. Which prevents the penis from erection. Another problem is the lack of sex education. The sexual activity needs to get more mainstream and sex education needs to be promoted. The problem is not only with aged men but today even a boy in his 20s suffers from erectile dysfunction. Super Kamagra Super Kamagra is one step further from Kamagra. Besides erectile dysfunction, it also solves the problem of pre-ejaculation. Both are products of Ajanta Pharmaceuticals. Pre – ejaculation is a condition in which the semen is ejected from the penis much before orgasm. This results in dissatisfaction with your partner. Kamagra is made for extending the duration of the erection. Super Kamagra is made for a long-lasting experience. It helps in increasing the duration of your overall sexual activity. How does it work? The hormone serotonin, determines the stability of your feelings, moods, and total well-being of the body. other body functions like eating, digestion, and sleeping. A low amount of serotonin means higher libido and vice-versa. In pre-ejaculation, there is a deficiency of serotonin in the areas of the brain that control ejaculation. The signal does not transfer from one neuron to the other leading to the instruction not getting transferred. Super Kamagra gets dissolved in the bloodstream and increases the level of serotonin, which decreases the libido, thus extending the time of your sexual activity. Is it safe? Just as Kamagra 100 are not licensed to be used in U.K and U.S, Super Kamagra is also illegal to be sold in the U.K, the U.S., and the European Union. If you live in countries like India it is not banned then it is available in almost all the premium online pharma stores and in offline stores also. But in U.K few illegal websites offer Kamagra tablets and gel. But this poses a risk in their composition. If it happens to be a different substitute of sildenafil citrate or Dapoxetine then it may affect your health by showing fatal side effects. So, if you want to use such products consult a doctor before use or just buy a generic product. There are several online forums to support you here and from all the stores, you can have the item from international destinations too. The customs and other affiliated things are taken up by the seller here, but you can treat your disorder and make a come back to normal life easily with >>Read more
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4 Reasons Why Your Acne Won’t Go Away

Acne will reduce your self-esteem and frustrate you. In addition to blackheads or whiteheads, there is chronic acne, which can be bothersome to deal with. Although acne may be difficult to treat at home, our modern technology has created successful machines that can smooth acne and acne scars. Specialists offer a wide variety of in-office treatments that can effectively treat acne scars. One of which is subcision. Subcision acne scar is an invasive treatment that breaks apart scar tissues and smoothens out the skin. While acne and acne scar is a normal thing, it can be worse for some. In this article, you’ll know what is acne, why it is so stubborn, and the various treatment procedures you can consider. What Is Acne? For several reasons, acne is the gross bump that you get. The environment can be caused by unbalanced hormones, allergies, bad nutrition, poor health, etc. Acne occurs during the blockage and inflammation of hair follicles. Dirt, sebum, and bacteria that go deep in your pores can lead to blackheads, whiteheads, bumps, or extreme acne. The sebaceous glands create more acne, usually when puberty strikes. Hair follicles become blocked with oil and dirt when too much sebum is produced, leading to the growth of bacteria and acne development. Why Won’t It Go Away? You Use Too Many Products The right substance is just the recommended quantity when treating acne. Some ingredients are not to be used in combination. Mixing products or therapies may cause accidental chemical reactions without obtaining advice from a professional. For example, combining acid, salicylic cleansers and facial scrubbing will do your skin harm more than good – as salicylic is an exfoliant already. Combining these two medications will exfoliate your skin unnecessarily and make the discomfort worse. Excessive exposure to the ingredients in your skin will strain and cause more inflammation. Inconsistent Skincare Routine The majority of skincare items require sufficient time to work their magic, so your skin is adapted to the powerful ingredients. Being impatient with your skincare routine and constantly changing products can be the reason why your inflammation does not go away. You should stick to your skincare routine for two months before you try anything new. Don’t stop with the products you are using immediately after the skin is clear. Maintain the scheme instead and tap off slowly. Wrong Skin Care Routine Our skin conditions, habits, and needs are distinct. Your acne couldn’t be gone, because you heard a friend say this product worked great things for your face. Well, it might not work for you as it will for others. Therefore, it is crucial that you consult your doctor to find out the items that best suit your skin type. You can consider otc products for products with benzoyl peroxide and salicylic acid in the battle against acne. Both of these are potent ingredients that attack acne directly. The exfoliation and cleaning of pores are facilitated by Salicylic acid, while also helping to unclog follicles from dirt, grime, sebum, and acne bacteria. The peroxide of benzoyl targets and destroys the bacteria. The combination of these two substances will help the skin clear. Your Face Is Always Dirty Bacteria from your gadgets can trigger acne around your face, particularly on the sides, jawline, and chin. When continually exposed to bacteria, the infection cannot be fully cured. Your smartphone will accumulate dirt and bacteria to prevent and exacerbate your acne. Your follicles keep accumulating dirt from things with which they have direct contact. There are also bacterias and germs in your computer and keyboard that can cause skin infections. Your hands that touched your computer will pass bacteria to the face and lead to pimples and acne infection. Invest in any of your computer or laptop’s disinfectant wipes. Effective Acne Scar Removal Treatments Some ways of treating acne scars are given below: Dermabrasion: The procedure is performed by removing the skin’s top layer using a fast spinning system that remodels the skin proteins and makes them appear more smooth than ever. Punch Technique: Commonly used in deep boxcar and ice-pick scars. The operation is performed by surgery. It removes the scar entirely and smoothes the skin simultaneously. In-home treatments: The treatment of your acne scar can take some time, so patience may be required if you want to save you too much money from treatments. Applying moisturizer always to your skin is the safest home remedy. Moisturizers help cure the skin by keeping it hydrated and enhancing its beauty. It is advised to avoid the sun because the skin darkens and your wounds become more noticeable. Laser treatments: Laser treatments are two forms of laser treatment for acne scars: ablative and non-ablative treatments. Laser treatments. Ablative laser therapy removes small skin spots and produces a cleaner surface area. Non-ablative laser therapy is carried out to promote collagen formation, tighten the skin, and restore the damage caused by scarring.
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Climate change could worsen allergy season by up to 60%

Bad news for hay fever sufferers: Climate change could worsen allergy season by up to 60%, new model predicts. Experts studied pollen levels and weather conditions in Europe over decades. They found rain and air temperature before pollen season were key indicators. They can inform just how severe the pollen and allergens are expected to be. This could allow professionals and sufferers to plan in advance for a bad year. People suffering from hay fever could be in for a worse time of it in the future, as a new study shows that climate change could worsen allergy season by up to 60%. A team of scientists from the University of Worcester created new statistical models to forecast the changes in pollen severity as air temperature and rainfall changes. Based on long-term assessments looking at year-to-year changes in pollen concentration, they found that climate change would have a significant impact. Lead author Alexander Kurganskiy says projected changes in the climate could increase allergy season severity by up to 60% over current levels. It is hoped that by being able to forecast the risk, and understand potential changes, people with allergic rhinitis can prepare for the pollen season to reduce exposure. How can you treat hay fever? Vaseline: Apply the jelly around the nose to trap pollen particles Nasal filters: They make a physical barrier between the pollen particles and the nasal membrane Air purifiers: The home appliances remove pollen particles from the air Eye drops and tablets: They contain antihistamine to reduce inflammation Immunotherapy: The process involves consuming the allergen over a number of years to build the body’s tolerance While up to 40% of Europeans suffer from pollen allergies, there is currently no clear guidance on how best to prepare for upcoming allergy seasons. Until this new study it had also remained unknown how allergy season severity may change as the climate continues to warm due to human activities. To address these gaps, Kurganskiy and colleagues built a statistical model to simulate and predict the sum of pollen concentrations, also known as the seasonal pollen integral (SPIn) figure. They did this for each of 28 sites throughout the entire grass pollen season across Europe, and determined ‘no connection’ between pollen severity and different sites. This suggests each site should be considered individually when developing a long-term assessment approach to hay fever treatment, Kurganskiy explained. Each site was studied year-to-year to look at annual variations in grass SPIn based on the net production of organic carbon of grasses at 34 pollen monitoring stations. As part of the study they used the Joint UK Land Environmental Simulator (JULES) model to simulate the net production of organic carbon for more than 407 pollen seasons at these stations between 1996 and 2016. This aspect of the study allowed them to find that small variations in grass growth led to large variations in the quantity of pollen. ‘Our findings have the potential to be used in atmospheric dispersion models for Northwest Europe or larger regions throughout the world where sufficient robust pollen data are available,’ Kurganskiy said. Allergic rhinitis, also known as hay fever, is an inflammation in the nose caused by overreaction of the immune system to allergens in the air. Managing allergic rhinitis symptoms is challenging and requires timely intervention, including preparing for how severe the upcoming allergy season is going to be. The new research shows that the annual severity of any given season is government by the weather conditions on the run up to the pollen season. Knowing this will allow future forecasters to make predictions for the likely risk levels for high end allergy sufferers, giving people time to prepare. For example, the team found that each region they monitored had a different level of severity suggesting that it could be possible to plan holidays to avoid the worst effects of pollen in any given year. The findings have been published in the journal Science Advances. HAY FEVER: AN ALLERGIC REACTION TO POLLEN Hay fever is an allergic reaction to pollen, a fine powder which comes from plants. There is more pollen in the air in the spring and summer when plants are flowering. The reaction usually happens when pollen comes into contact with someone’s eyes, nose, mouth or throat. Hay fever symptoms include coughing and sneezing; a runny or blocked nose; itchy, red or watery eyes; itching throat, nose, mouth or ears; headaches and tiredness. People suffering from the allergy can put Vaseline around their nose to trap the pollen, wear wraparound sunglasses to keep pollen out of their eyes, wash clothes regularly and vacuum and dust indoors. Avoiding grass, cut flowers and smoke can help reduce symptoms, as can drying clothes indoors where pollen is less likely to stick to them. Read more at DailyMail.co.uk
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Driving in winter? Be prepared and stay safe

Avoid cold weather driving disasters with these tips

Prepare your car—and yourself—for winter driving conditions

Plan your trip with common sense

Drive extra carefully

If you do get caught in a storm

Like it? Share it with your friends!

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