Growing up, you may have heard many old wives’ tales about thunderstorms and their affects. There is one that suggests thunderstorms spoil milk. You are warned not to swim or shower during a storm. Many believe that dogs can sense the atmospheric changes long before a storm shows up, or that an acorn in a window wards off lightning. There exists the popular (but false) idea that lightning never strikes twice in the same place. You also have heard that a thunderstorm with steady rain will “freshen, clean, or clear” the air of pollutants and pollen. Well, last month a team of academics in Atlanta released a study that challenges this myth, links thunderstorms to an increase asthma attacks, and raises awareness for all allergy sufferers.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and Emory University released the results of an in-depth study that links thunderstorms to asthma attacks in the Atlanta Metro area. So, how can a thunderstorm cause an asthma attack? The authors of the paper say that the best hypothesis is that “pollen grains may rupture upon contact with rainwater, releasing respirable allergens, and that gusty winds from thunderstorm downdrafts spread particles . . . which may ultimately increase the risk of asthma attacks.”

The researchers studied a database consisting of more than 10 million emergency room visits in some 41 hospitals in a 20-county area, in and around Atlanta. For the period between 1993 and 2004, the team found a 3% higher incidence of visits for asthma attacks on days following thunderstorms. “While a 3% increase in risk may seem modest, asthma is quite prevalent in Atlanta, and a modest relative increase could have a significant public health impact for a region with more than five million people,” said Andrew Grundstein, a climatologist in the department of geography at UGA and lead author on the research. He went on to say that “3 % is likely conservative because of limitations in this study.”

Here are some national statistics cited in the UGA news release:

• According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 20 million Americans have asthma. There has been a dramatic increase in reported cases of the disease--cases have increased 75 percent between 1980 and 1994.

• Nearly 5,000 Americans die annually from asthma attacks.

• According to the Division of Public Health of the Georgia Department of Human Resources, approximately 210,000 Georgia children under the age of 17 have asthma. 65 percent of that number had an attack within the last year.

For more information on the research team, the study, results, and methodology of the research, check out the news release on the University of Georgia web site.