This summer’s multiple heavy rains have contributed to the number of mosquitoes, but only marginally, McLean said. Each storm typically results in another brood of bugs showing up within a week or two. But, so far at least, we’re within the normal range for hatches.
“In a typical summer, we’ll have six to eight broods,” he said. “This year, we’re on our sixth brood. Last year, the rain stopped in late July and everything dried out in August. We don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
Because the backlog of hatches has caught up, the worst of the bug baby boom is likely behind us. But those bugs aren’t going away. We’ll merely return to the normal levels.
And, as we head into August, we’re in the prime season for the spread of the West Nile virus. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” McLean warned.
Mosquitoes that have spent the first part of the summer biting birds — where West Nile originates — spend the last half of the summer biting humans, which is how the disease is passed on.
“The typical thinking is that the more bugs that are biting you, the higher your chances are of getting a disease, but that’s not true,” McLean said. “It’s not the hordes of mosquitoes biting you in the spring that you have to worry about. It’s that old, scraggly mosquito that’s still around in August.”
That’s why McLean urges people to stay diligent about repelling mosquitoes.
“People tend to put on lots of repellent early in the year when the bugs are heavy but then cut back in August,” he said. “Don’t do that.”
Last year saw a startling surge in the West Nile virus, with 70 confirmed cases in the state, compared with only two in 2011.
With so many variables, experts aren’t predicting how bad the disease might be this year, but they’re thinking that one reason for last year’s surge was the ultra-early spring that resulted in a much longer-than-normal bug season.
If that’s the case, there actually might be a silver lining to our long wait for summer this year.
