Weather Whys; Weather Sensitivity

This is weather-wise. The possibility that meteorological changes might affect the health and well-being of humans and other animals is a subject that for decades has attracted varying degrees of interest in the scientific community. And these days, interest continues to increase. Studies have shown that some individuals may be weather-sensitive. In other words, the weather's effect upon them appears to be particularly strong. For instance, a malady called seasonal affective disorder, or sad for short, has received increasing notice over the past few years. Individuals with that disorder are very susceptible to depression during the winter months when sunshine is at a minimum. And rainy spells can affect some allergy sufferers, both by encouraging the proliferation of mold spores, and by aiding the growth of many plants that release quantities of pollen into the air.

Now, there are those who even believe the relative concentrations of negative and positive ions in the air may have a significant impact on some people. Normally, the air's net charge is slightly positive, and studies have suggested that positive ions can make breathing more difficult in some cases and cause important changes in brain chemistry. But the effects of ionization are not well understood, and at this point, they're still the subject of speculation. Weather-wise is produced with the assistance of the National Weather Service Forecast Office, and the National Severe Storms Laboratory, both in Norman, Oklahoma, and the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, the Oklahoma Climateological Survey, and the School of Meteorology, all at the University of Oklahoma. Our writer is Christine Harbour, our editor is Brian Waukey, and our executive producer is Karen Hope. Weather-wise is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation, but whether or not they are, I'm