Salt Lake City, UT Pollen Levels Today

Salt Lake City sits in a high-desert valley ringed by the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains, a geography that traps pollen and pollutants and produces a long, intense allergy season across all three pollen categories.

Tree pollen kicks off the year, typically emerging in late February and peaking from March through May, with box elder, maple, cottonwood, juniper, mulberry, ash, oak, and elm serving as the most problematic local sources.

As trees taper, grass pollen takes over from mid-May through July, driven largely by Kentucky bluegrass, timothy, orchard grass, and Bermuda grass—lawns and irrigated parkways keep levels elevated well into summer.

Weed season follows in August and runs through the first hard frost in October, dominated by ragweed, sagebrush, Russian thistle (tumbleweed), kochia, and pigweed, all well-suited to the arid Great Basin environment.

Late spring often brings an overlap of tree and grass pollen, compounding symptoms for many sufferers.

Beyond pollen, the valley's frequent temperature inversions concentrate dust, vehicle emissions, and PM2.5, while dry soils stir airborne particulates and indoor mold can spike after snowmelt.

Overall, Salt Lake City's allergy profile is defined by a prolonged, pollen-heavy calendar intensified by dry air, desert weeds, and valley-trapped air pollution.