GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – As temperatures gradually rise and rainfall continues this spring, mosquito season is being ushered in.
But right now, it’s unclear exactly how ‘bad’ the mosquito season will be. Director of the UW-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, PJ Liesch, says it’ll depend on a few factors.
“Unfortunately at this point, it’s really hard to tell. What is going to shape the mosquito story this year is the amount of rainfall we get over the coming weeks,” Liesch said. “How much and what species are more abundant than others, that’s really gonna be dictated by the amount of rain and also where that rain or water is.”
Liesch says that means whether water collects in permanent bodies of water or temporary pools in the woods, will have an influence on the abundance of mosquitoes. The big flush is typically in mid-May or early June, with ‘flood water’ mosquitoes becoming more prevalent. There are close to sixty different mosquito species in the state.
The so-called ‘Wisconsin Bug Guy’ also points out that temperatures will make a difference in mosquito population.
“The early warm temps, that can kind of see accelerate things to a certain extent, although this week it’s a little bit cooler compared to a week or so ago,” Liesch said. “The warmer it is the faster their metabolism runs the more quickly they can go through their developmental stages and emergence as adults.”
If the season gets bad and mosquitoes seem to be everywhere you go, Liesch has some simple recommendations to avoid the irritating bites.
“Wearing long sleeved clothing, that’s going to be a physical barrier between yourself and the mosquitoes so that they physically can’t get to your skin, repellent such as DEET, and there’s a number of other repellents which are EPA registered,” Liesch told WTAQ News. “If they’re just really bad, it might make sense to stay indoors or spend more time indoors or in a screened-in porch. For that barbecue, maybe do your grilling outside in it and then head indoors to that screened-in porch, just so again, you have a barrier between yourself and the mosquitoes.”
If you’re out on the back deck and seem to be hitting more mosquitoes than actually flipping brats, Liesch says to set up a box fan or two. With such a small body mass, mosquitoes can’t fly very well with decent air movement around 6-10mph, and would tend to avoid that area.
As for the viruses that could be transmitted via mosquito bite, it’s unclear how serious those issues could be this year.
“We do occasionally see concerns with West Nile virus and eastern equine encephalitis, although every year can really vary quite a bit in terms of how prevalent those diseases are. So it’s too early to tell at this point what type of disease pressure we might see,” Liesch said.
Zika and other viruses are often brought up, but Liesch says they’re generally not an issue unless you’re in tropical or sub-tropical areas.
“Regardless, we’re going to have some mosquitoes around. This is Wisconsin, after all,” Liesch said.
