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Kansas Pollen Calendar: Season by Species

Common ragweed runs August 15 to October 20. Below: every tracked species, its months, and who published them.

Common ragweed pollen typically runs August 15 to October 20 here, and that window is open now. In October, the calendar has Common ragweed in season.
Common ragweed season
Aug 15 to Oct 20
In season this October
1
Sourced windows
3

Where the Kansas pollen year stands

Climatological windows, resolved against today
Weed
groups in season, mid October
Common ragweed
Aug 15 to Oct 20
common ragweed season
per K-State Research and Extension, Butler County
October 20
median first frost
the date that ends ragweed season here (derived)

K-State Extension notes goldenrod is often blamed for the fall hay fever that Kansas ragweed pollen causes (see ragweed entry source).

The calendar

What pollinates when in Kansas

Every bar is a sourced season window; the institution and sentence behind each one are printed in the species cards below. Bars marked ❄ end at Kansas’s median first frost, a date we compute from NOAA normals rather than copy from a source, because frost is what physically stops frost-tender weeds like ragweed.

Oak, cedar, and mixed hardwoodsTreeFebruary 1 to May 31
GrassesGrassMay 1 to August 31
Common ragweedWeedAugust 15 to October 20 ❄ derived
trees grasses weeds today❄ end derived from median first frost

Windows are climatological typicals for Kansas as published by the sources on this page. They say when a season normally runs, not how strong any given day is.

Common ragweed flower spike held upright against a clear blue sky
The species that leads a state’s calendar decides when its worst weeks land, which is why every state page opens with different months. “Ambrosia artemisiifolia flowerhead7” by Harry Rose, CC BY 2.0
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Species by species

The windows, with their sources

Each card shows the months, the institution that published them, and the verbatim sentence the window came from. Where a date is computed by us rather than published, the card says so in as many words.

Oak, cedar, and mixed hardwoodsTree

Quercus, Juniperus, Carya, Fraxinus

February 1 to May 31

Midpoint of the published window falls around April 10; the source does not name a peak.

“With trees generally pollinating in the spring, Missouri's biggest allergy triggers are oak, cedar, hickory, walnut and ash trees. Because of Missouri's frequent weather changes, pollen levels may start rising as early as January or as late as March.”

MU Health Care (University of Missouri)

Neighboring-state source: MU Health Care in adjacent Missouri, applied to Kansas. No Kansas-specific month statement was found from K-State or KDHE. Eastern red cedar is also a major early pollen source across Kansas.

GrassesGrass

Poaceae (bluegrass, timothy, bermudagrass)

May 1 to August 31

“Grasses are more powerful allergens than trees and bloom from May through summer. A few allergenic grasses include orchardgrass, bluegrass, timothy, johnsongrass, bermudagrass, and redtop.”

University of Illinois Extension (ILRiverHort)

Regional Midwest source (Illinois Extension) applied to Kansas; Aug 31 end is our reading of through summer. Johnsongrass and bermudagrass in the source list are common in Kansas.

Common ragweedWeed

Ambrosia artemisiifolia

August 15 to October 20 ❄ end derived from median first frost (in season now)

“If you have been suffering from hay fever this fall, a common weed is your culprit rather than the often-blamed goldenrod. All family members are abundant pollen producers, making them a major allergy-causing plant in the late summer.”

K-State Research and Extension, Butler County · end date computed by us from NOAA 1991 to 2020 frost normals, not published by the source

K-State wording is late summer and fall without a month; Aug 15 start is our reading of late summer, consistent with the EPA national indicator quoted in the file header. End computed from first frost.

What the allergy bodies say, in their words. AAAAI: “Seasonal allergic rhinitis is often caused by tree pollen in the early spring. During the late spring and early summer, grass pollen often cause symptoms. Late summer and fall hay fever is caused by weed pollen.” ACAAI: “Tree pollination begins earliest in the year followed by grass pollination later in the spring and summer and ragweed in the late summer and fall.” For anything about symptoms or treatment, see a clinician.

The frost connection

Why ragweed season in Kansas ends on a frost date

Ragweed is a short-day annual: it starts shedding pollen as days shorten in late summer and keeps going until cold kills it. The US EPA’s technical documentation for its ragweed pollen indicator puts it plainly: the season “ends in response to cold weather in the fall (i.e., first frost)”, and ragweed “will not continue flowering once temperatures dip below freezing.” EPA’s own analysis truncates every station’s ragweed season at the first fall frost.

This page derives the end date from that rule: Kansas's median first fall frost is October 20 (NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals, the same number our first frost pages publish), and that is the derived end date on the ragweed bar above. It is a median: about half of years frost earlier, half later, and EPA's indicator work shows fall frosts arriving later than they used to across the northern states, which is exactly why ragweed seasons have been getting longer.

Common ragweed flower spike held upright against a clear blue sky
Common ragweed in flower. Each spike sheds wind-borne pollen from late summer until the plant is killed by freezing temperatures, which is why the end of its season is a frost statistic rather than a botany fact. “Ambrosia artemisiifolia flowerhead7” by Harry Rose, CC BY 2.0
Live proxy · USA-NPN

Is tree season running early or late in Kansas?

USA-NPN’s Extended Spring Indices measure how early or late spring leaf-out and bloom are running against the 1991 to 2020 normal. The index knows nothing about pollen; it tracks cloned lilacs and honeysuckles. But wind-pollinated trees flower in the same early-spring window it measures, so it is a usable, clearly labelled proxy for whether Kansas’s tree pollen season is ahead of or behind schedule this year.

First Leaf Index
…
Leaf-out of lilacs and honeysuckles, the earliest woody plants to break bud.
First Bloom Index
…
Flowering of lilacs and honeysuckles, which USA-NPN associates with blooming of early-spring shrubs and leaf out of deciduous trees.
What this is
A proxy, stated as one. The index tracks lilac and honeysuckle leaf-out and bloom, not pollen. Wind-pollinated trees flower in the same early-spring window, so an early index spring usually means an early tree pollen season. It says nothing about grass or ragweed.

The live grid currently holds the finished spring of 2026, shown as history. Tree windows above are not shifted by it; readings for the coming spring start filling in from late January.

Pine branch with yellow pollen cones releasing a visible cloud of pollen into the wind
A pine shedding pollen into the wind. Wind-pollinated trees release enormous quantities because almost none of it lands on another flower, which is also why it lands on everything else. “Pine releasing pollen into the wind in Tuntorp 1” by W.carter, CC BY-SA 4.0
How this page is built

A calendar, not a count

Sourced windows

Every season window names the extension service, agency or university that published it, with the sentence quoted on the card. Where nobody publishes a window, the page says so instead of inventing one.

Derived ragweed ends

Weed bars marked with the frost symbol end on the state’s median first frost, computed from NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals and labelled as derived, on the strength of EPA’s ragweed indicator documentation.

A labelled proxy, not a forecast

The Spring Index anomaly is a measurement of the spring that has already run. It shifts nothing except spring tree windows, and only while the year’s spring is actually in progress.

No counts, by design

Daily counts belong to the certified counting stations of the National Allergy Bureau, and search engines already print them. This site publishes the part nobody prints: the calendar.

Common questions

Kansas pollen season FAQ

Orchard grass flower heads with pink anthers spread for wind pollination
Orchard grass in flower, anthers out. Grass pollen is the midsummer act of the calendar almost everywhere, and a lawn kept mowed never reaches this stage, which is the whole connection to the mowing schedule. “Dactylis glomerata - Pink with pollen” by Bob Harvey, CC BY-SA 2.0
The rest of the Kansas calendar

Plan around the Kansas seasons

Kansas frost datesThe median first frost is the date that ends ragweed season here. Same number, two pages.Spring bloom timingThe same Spring Index that flags an early tree pollen year also moves the wildflower calendar.Kansas lawn calendarGrass pollen comes from grass allowed to flower. The mowing calendar is the other half of that story.

More Midwest pollen calendars

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Season windows are climatological typicals, each attributed on its card to the institution that published it, with the supporting sentence quoted. Frost-derived weed season ends are computed by us from NOAA 1991 to 2020 median first frost dates and labelled as derived wherever they appear; the frost link is documented by the US EPA’s ragweed pollen indicator technical documentation. Spring Index anomalies are read live in your browser from the USA National Phenology Network (www.usanpn.org, CC BY 4.0) and shown as a labelled proxy for spring tree pollen timing. National picture: every state’s pollen calendar →
Hero image: “Ambrosia artemisiifolia flowerhead7” by Harry Rose, CC BY 2.0