Asthma is a serious health issue and can lead to death if the person doesn’t get help. If you are worried about yourself or someone else see your doctor as soon as possible. If a person is having difficulty breathing call 000.

Thunderstorm asthma may occur when a storm strikes on a hot and windy day during pollen season (early October - late December) when there are high levels of pollen in the air combined with a certain type of weather event.

When a storm front hits, the pollen grains absorb the moisture and burst into tiny particles. The wind from the thunderstorm blows the particles down to ground level, where they can be inhaled deep inside the lungs and trigger a serious asthma flare up.

Weather conditions like this can trigger breathing problems in people who have seasonal hay fever.

People who wheeze and sneeze with hay fever from pollens during spring are most likely to be affected, even if they have not been diagnosed with asthma before.

• Keep taking your preventer medication as prescribed. If you do not normally use a preventer all year, you should use it during September to December if you are going to be in an area where there is ryegrass pollen
• Follow the pollen counts and weather forecasts during spring and early summer so you know if a storm is coming
• Make sure your written asthma action plan is up to date and includes thunderstorm advice – talk to your doctor
• Avoid being outdoors just before and during thunderstorms, especially in cold wind gusts that come before the rain. Get inside a building or car with the windows shut and the air conditioner switched to recirculate/recycled

During an asthma attack, perform the four steps of asthma first aid:

Step 1 - Sit the person upright

Step 2 - Give one separate puffs of blue/grey reliever puffer

• Shake puffer
• Put one puff into spacer
• Take four breaths from spacer
• Repeat until four puffs have been taken
• Remember: shake, one puff, four breaths OR give two separate doses of a Bricanyl inhaler (age 6 years and over) or a Symbicort inhaler (age over 12 years)

Step 3 - Wait four minutes. If there is no improvement, give four more separate puffs of blue/grey reliever as above OR give one more dose of Bricanyl or Symbicort inhaler

Step 4 - If there is still no improvement dial Triple Zero (000) for an ambulance. Keep giving four separate puffs every four minutes until emergency assistance arrives OR one dose of Bricanyl or Symbicort every four minutes – up to three more doses of Symbicort.