Feb. 17, 2012 -- Got a stuffy nose, sore throat, watery eyes, or throbbing head? In February, those symptoms are usually caused by a cold or the flu, but this year, the culprit could be allergies.

Thanks to a mild winter, spring allergy season got started nearly a month early in many parts of the U.S., and experts say that could mean prolonged misery for people who are sensitive to tree pollen.

“It’s very unusual because it’s so early,” says Stanley M. Fineman, MD, who is president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology.

His office, the Atlanta Allergy & Asthma Clinic, has been logging local pollen counts for nearly 20 years. “We have not seen pollen counts this high, this early, as long as I can remember,” he says.

It’s the same story across much of the country.

“We’re seeing it in the middle states like Maryland, southern Ohio, even some of the western states,” Fineman says.