An unseasonably warm spring in the Red River Valley is wonderful, but it can have a downside: mosquitoes.
Vector control teams in the region have gone to work early this year because of the warm weather. The spring flood left a lot of water standing in fields and road ditches, but dry weather the past few weeks dried up many of the potential mosquito breeding areas. Those that remain, however, have warmed up enough to serve as mosquito incubators.
So, it appears the early start to the skeeter season is a mixed bag: Where there is standing water, weather conditions favor mosquito hatches. But relatively dry weather has reduced the size and number of breeding waters. And fewer wet areas allow vector control teams to do more effective treatment.
All in all, not a bad start to the skeeter season. Maybe, just maybe, weather conditions and steady vector control efforts will keep the swarms to a minimum.
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