Pollen pain arrives early as spring heats up What's good for flowers is not necessarily good for humans. Spring is well and truly here and don't the city's allergy sufferers know it. Pollen counts are already high in Sydney and will remain so for most of the next week as unseasonably warm and dry conditions combine with westerly winds - a potent mix perfect for triggering allergic reactions, said Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino. The earliest we've had a run like this was in October 1989 The problem is not just pollen itself, but dust, air pollution, mould, even pets, with the city basically rainless for the past four weeks. Early spring warmth is bringing forward the pollen problem. "As the air becomes very dry, that sort of stuff gets quite actively spread through the air, especially when you have strong westerly winds," Mr Domensino said. Do some spring cleaning early. To limit the impact during periods of high pollen readings, Weatherzone's advice includes washing pets weekly, avoiding feather and down pillows, not hanging bedsheets and clothing outside to dry, and wearing a mask when mowing the lawn. Rising heat What you're up against. Sydney temperatures reached 28.8 degrees in the city on Thursday, the warmest since March 28. By Monday and Tuesday, places such as Penrith will be looking at 30 degrees, which would be the earliest in the season for that site if reached. Observatory Hill, near Circular Quay, recorded the 13th consecutive day of 21 degrees or above on Thursday, and will likely extend the series to 18 days by Tuesday. "We've never seen a run this long and this warm," Mr Domensino said. The earliest we've had a run like this was in October 1989. Based on current forecasts of 25 and 27 degrees for the next two days, Sydney is on course for its second warmest first week of spring. Only 1865 was warmer, said Weatherzone's Ben McBurney. National records Sydney is hardly alone in suffering high pollen counts or unusual warmth. Brisbane's pollen readings will be "very high" for the next few days, Weatherzone said. Melbourne, meanwhile, had its warmest September night in 12 years, with the temperature dropping to only 19.7 degrees early on Thursday. That reading, though, was also the warmest this early in the season on record by 19 days, according to Blair Trewin, senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology. Australia's run of record temperatures shows little sign of ending, with cold fronts continuing to be weak and preventing the break-up of heat over much of the continent. Sea-surface temperatures also remain well above normal, climatologists say. The year-to-date and 12-month temperatures are at record highs, while Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra all had their mildest winters. Among the latest records to tumble are early-season maximums for Western Australia at Fitzroy Crossing, where the mercury climbed to 41.1 degrees on Monday. Tarcoola's 37.7 degrees and Mildura's 32.4 degrees on Wednesday set similar records for South Australia and Victoria, respectively, for early-season warmth. For Sydney, the outlook is for maximum temperatures to ease to 20 degrees by next Wednesday - matching the long-run average for September - before conditions warm up again, Mr Domensino said.