With the onset of cooler temperatures, you may be wondering whether cold weather will kill the spotted lanternflies. The Big K Morning show put that question to Andy Amrhein of Evey True Value:
"What our studies are showing are about 35 degrees. So not quite freezing but a little bit above freezing. They are going to stop moving, go into hibernation and just freeze to death."
The bad news is while most adult spotted lanternflies will eventually freeze to death, their eggs can survive a long cold winter on just about any surface.
Amrhein goes on to discuss what needs to happen this winter if we want to have less of an impact of the lanternflies the following 2024 Summer:
"If we can get back to a normal winter in Pittsburgh, where we have a good two weeks of zero weather, sub-freezing temperature, it will take care of all of this extreme bug problem that we've had this year."
After a hot and humid summer, there is some hope that the winter may indeed provide a dent into the invasive lanternfly population. The Chinese native species has been discovered in 14 American states, originally Pennsylvania in 2014, according to the USDA.