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Heavy Spring Rain Signals Bad News For Oklahoma Allergy Sufferers

Ragweed
Lou Ziska
/
USDA Agricultural Research Service

Higher than usual concentrations of pollen will cause problems for Oklahoma’s allergy sufferers this year.

 

Allergy season is just kicking off and Dr. Dean Atkinson, a physician at the Oklahoma Allergy and Asthma Clinic, thinks it could last for up to two months.

 

Oklahoma typically has one of the highest pollen counts in the country. The culprit: Ragweed.

“It’s everywhere,” Dr. Atkinson said. “ I mean, it will grow in every little ditch it can find and the climate’s just perfect.”

 

Atkinson said the the wet spring weather in Oklahoma created perfect growing conditions for ragweed.

 

“Because of the weather we’ve had, those counts are going to be high for quite a long time, probably one to two months,” Atkinson said.

 

Dr. Atkinson said ragweed begins to pollinate when temperatures start to cool down.

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Jacob McCleland spent nine years as a reporter and host at public radio station KRCU in Cape Girardeau, Mo. His stories have appeared on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered, Here & Now, Harvest Public Media and PRI’s The World. Jacob has reported on floods, disappearing languages, crop duster pilots, anvil shooters, Manuel Noriega, mule jumps and more.
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