MINNEAPOLIS— April showers bring May flowers, but they also bring mosquitoes. The buzzing, biting and bumping are back.
“We found our first larva at the end of FebruaryWe usually don’t have it until April or early May, says Alex Carlson, Public Affairs Manager for the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District (MMCD).
But with the hard winter in February and the recent rain, Carlson said it will be a normal year.
“We expect to see a good number of spring mosquitoes coming out of the water in the coming weeks,” Carlson said.
MMCD field crews survey wetlands before sending samples to the St. Paul laboratory.
There, technicians like Carey Lamere determine the type of mosquito and its size before helicopter treatment can begin.
“The sizes are still small enough that we have time to get our treatments in,” Lamere said, looking through a microscope.
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Choppers spray chemicals that prevent baby mosquitoes from biting adults.
“The bigger it is, we know we have a limited time to get materials into the water to control those mosquitoes if they are the species we want to target,” Carlson said.
Even after treatment, Carlson says it’s difficult to say how many mosquitoes will need to be swatted away
“It looks like we’re in a drier year, but it’s hard to tell so far. All it takes is a few heavy rains and the mosquitoes are back,” he said.
Research has shown that it can attract the following mosquitoes:
- Beer
- Specific blood types
- Pregnancy
- To sweat
The best way to keep them away is to use bug spray with DEET in it.
