Warm, Dry Weather Could Save Money in Fight Against Mosquitoes

Wet weather in the spring gave rise to near-record numbers of mosquitoes, but Jim Stark, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District (MMCD) says conditions have changed.

"We had one of the wettest Mays on record," he said. "Now the last six weeks we've had very little rain at all."

According to Start, hot, dry weather has helped to quickly reduce the number of mosquitoes.

"Most of our adult mosquitoes live about four or five weeks in the summer," he said. "We haven't had rain for a month or so, so those mosquitoes that hatched out in May or June are dying off.

Conditions were so wet, the MMCD was at risk of going over budget, and Stark says the warm, dry weather has provided a welcomed respite.

“It's allowed us to catch up with our budget. It's allowed us to catch up doing some adult mosquito control and try to lessen those numbers."

The MMCD had asked for access to $1 million dollars of emergency funding, but if weather conditions continue to be hot and dry, Stark says that money may not be needed after all.

Now the concern turns to mosquito-transmitted illnesses, according to Loren Lemke, field operations supervisor for the MMCD.

"We're always concerned about West Nile," he said. "This is the time of year it starts to amplify in the bird population."