Seasonal Health
Walking Pneumonia Symptoms: The Cough That Outlasts the Cold
A cough that starts dry, worsens slowly and outlasts everyone's patience is the signature of walking pneumonia. What federal guidance...
Seasonal Health
Health that follows the Maine and New Hampshire calendar. Tick season and browntail moth in spring, EEE and heat in late summer, hunting season and foraging hazards in fall, then ice, wood smoke, snow shoveling and respiratory illness once the cold sets in.
Seasonal Health
Snow Shoveling Heart Attack Risk: Why a Storm Sends People to the Hospital
A 20 centimeter snowfall in Quebec was followed the next day by a measurable jump in men admitted with a...
Seasonal Health
The Indoor Humidity Level That Keeps Mold Down in a New England Winter
Federal agencies, a university extension service and a 1986 review give four different answers, and none of them is the...
Seasonal Health
EEE and West Nile in Maine and New Hampshire: The Late Summer Risk Window
Maine's testing protocol turns the late summer risk window into a literal date, August 15, and closes it two weeks...
Seasonal Health
Wild Parsnip and Giant Hogweed: The Burn That Needs Sunlight to Appear
Contact with the sap is painless, which is why the burn gets blamed on everything except the plant. How phytophotodermatitis...
Seasonal Health
Browntail Moth: The Rash, the Breathing Trouble, and When the Hairs Are Worst
Maine's browntail outbreak peaked in 2021 and has since collapsed, but the toxic hairs stay active in the environment for...
Seasonal Health
Rucking Benefits: What Weighted Walking Does, and What It Asks of Your Joints
Rucking is walking with weight on your back, and the lab evidence is narrower than the gear sites suggest: roughly...
Seasonal Health
Poison Ivy Identification in New England: What It Looks Like in Every Season
Most poison ivy guides show you a glossy green leaf in July. The plant that catches people here is the...
Seasonal Health
Chanterelle Look-Alikes: The Maine Mushrooms That Send People to the ED
A jack-o'-lantern mistaken for a golden chanterelle is the most common misidentification the Northern New England Poison Center handles. What...
Seasonal Health
Sharing the Woods in Hunting Season: What Hikers and Runners Should Know
Maine's 2026 hunting calendar is longer than the two weeks most trail users picture, and the Sunday ban is real...
Seasonal Health
Tick Season Does Not End in Summer: The Fall Adult Deer Tick Peak
UMaine Extension tracks a second adult blacklegged tick peak in late October or early November, right when most people stop...
Seasonal Health
Early Ice and Cold Water: Why the Riskiest Days Sit at Each End of Winter
Maine and New Hampshire share border lakes and publish two different ice thickness numbers. The gap between them points at...