“The January Fever” – What Does Snow Have to Do with Mosquitoes?

Happy New Year means Happy January! As the age-old tradition goes, January is the time when things stop being polite and start getting real. When you think about it, even though January comes right after December, the two months couldn’t be further apart.

In December, we see fresh snow falling and start humming Bing Crosby tunes.

By January, we scream “WHHHYYY??” every time it snows, because we know we’ll have to scrape the ice off of our cars, yet again.

In December, we eat so much that we temporarily start using a new belt-hole.

By January, we are mapping out our year-long “salads and P90X” diet because this year, we’re serious.

In December, we treasure every moment with friends and family.

By January, we find ourselves Google-ing “how many days until spring?” at least three times a week.

Well, we’re with you. The Mosquito Hunters love spring and summer just as much as you do. You probably don’t think of mosquitoes this time of year, but there is actually an interesting relationship between snow and mosquitoes…

Every winter, we hear a lot of people speculate that a snowy winter will mean less mosquitoes. Actually, the truth is probably the opposite – a lot of precipitation can mean even more mosquitoes. This is because mosquitoes know how to survive through the coldest winters and the also love precipitation.

Over millions of years, mosquitoes have survived by being very resilient. Mosquito eggs (and some adult mosquitoes) will thrive through freezing temps. We likely won’t notice heavy mosquito activity until the overnight freezes & blizzards become less common, but there are countless dormant mosquitoes sitting and waiting for the temperatures to get back up into the 50s, then they will be ready to attack (just like they’ve been doing for millions of years). Why is snow and ice so important to mosquitoes? Think of it this way.

     Melting Snow + Melting Ice + Rain = Lots of standing water

     The more standing water, the more areas for mosquitoes to breed

     More snow can very well mean more mosquitoes

Standing water is not only needed for mosquito reproduction, but it’s also their energy source once they are mature, and they don’t stray far from the area where they matured. If you eliminate or neutralize the standing water on your property, you are instantly decreasing your likelihood of a big mosquito population.

If you’re scraping your car off or snowblowing these days, mosquitoes aren’t your biggest problem right now, but as the thaw approaches, please remember to take care of all standing water in your yard. Our Mosquito Hunters locations have “early bird” specials for pre-purchasing your treatments, so give us a “buzz” and we can help you keep the mosquitoes at bay.

Until then, stay bundled up, stay active, and “the January Fever” will be over before we know it.