Our snowy winter and wet spring erased our drought conditions, but guess who is back? Mosquitos.
About the only good news to report is that the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District is out treating the worst areas of the Twin Cities, areas that spokesman Alex Carlson says are full of eggs that can't wait to hatch and find your legs.
“Their eggs can survive unhatched for five to seven years,” Carlson says. “They’ve just been lying in wait, ready for the wetness to come back. With the snow that we had it refilled the ponds and the swamps, so now all it takes is a little bit of rain and it’s going to hatch more mosquitoes each time.”
Carlson says it hasn't been this bad in a while.
“People are coming off two years of noticing almost no mosquitoes, to years where now all of a sudden they’re back, and they’re back with a vengeance,” Carlson said.
You know the drill:
Get rid of any standing water
Use repellents containing DEET
Remember that mosquitos tend to prefer shady areas
Mosquitoes are most active at dusk and dawn
The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District studies, manages and protects the public from diseases spread by mosquitos, black flies and ticks in the metro area.
“We’re doing some helicopter maintenance just about in every county, we’re going to be throughout high mosquito production hotspots, doing some larval control materials trying to keep the mosquitos coming out of the water, and then we’re also trying to figure out if there are adult populations that are high enough to merit some additional treatments,” Carlson explained.
Carlson also notes that the mosquitoes being hatched now are of the spring species, and they can last a lot longer than others, even up to all summer long.
“If that species stays active, we’re going to have a long summer,” Carlson said.