Aug. 25--Q: The mosquitoes are driving me to distraction this year. Please define the oft-repeated term "mosquito season." I need to know it will end.
A: Sadly, mosquitoes don't follow a regular calendar -- they're rebels that way.
The end of mosquito season fluctuates, largely depending on air temperature, said Jamee Hubbard, a biology professor at UW-Stevens Point.
The number of mosquitoes will not abate until nighttime temperatures consistently fall below 55 degrees, she said. That means an extended streak of 55-or-lower temps, with only an occasional warmer night thrown in.
Cold weather affects the chemical reactions in a mosquito's body, slowing its muscle movements and blood flow, Hubbard said. "They just can't physically move very well if it's too cold," she said.
Moisture is the other factor that affects the mosquito season. Wet years create better breeding conditions because mosquitoes like to lay eggs on or just atop a waterline, Hubbard said. So you could have a really warm fall, yet if it's excessively dry, the mosquitoes won't be so bad, she said.
This is not that year.
"If it's both warm and wet like this year, you're going to see a lot of mosquito activity in the fall," Hubbard said.
She's not willing to make a grand prediction, but it's already pretty clear that we'll see mosquitoes through September, she said.
Here's one thing to keep in mind when cold weather hits and you're inclined to complain: Some mosquito species can't take frigid temperatures and expire. (Others "overwinter" as adults under leaf litter on the sides of trees or as larvae in water, Hubbard said.)
"You kind of hope for a really, really, really cold winter so that you have a big die-off," Hubbard said.
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