Cold Winters Don’t Kill North LA Mosquitoes
Every time I hear someone say, "We didn't have much of a winter. The mosquitoes are going to be terrible this summer," I almost laugh out loud.
The extreme cold we are experiencing this winter has a lot of these people thinking that we'll be totally devoid of mosquitoes this summer, proclaiming "That cold snap must have killed 'em all." That couldn't be further from the truth.
As a huge fan of the National Graphic television show, "Life Below Zero", I've witnessed true extreme cold.
We're talking temperatures of sixty below zero on occasion in areas at or near the Arctic Circle. And yet, in their warmer, summer months, they are constantly in battle with a tremendous mosquito population.
If you watched the video above, you witnessed incredible swarms of mosquitoes, and that was filmed in the Brooks Range of Alaska.
In that area of the world, their spring-time weather is much colder than our average winter, so freezing temps obviously have nothing to do with killing off the mosquito population.
While it's true that mosquito populations will die off during the colder months, according to mosquitonix.com, that doesn't stop a whole new batch of mosquitoes from taking over once the weather warms again.
Mosquitoes will lay their eggs in the fall, either before dying or hibernating during the winter. Females can lay up to 300 eggs in damp locales, including standing water, plants, moist soil and containers holding as little as a half-inch of water. When the weather warms up again - and with a bit of rain - the eggs that survived the winter will hatch and start their lifecycle.
So, just the disappearance of those adult mosquitoes in a cold snap like this has absolutely nothing to do with the potential for their summer population.
Just consider that, according to insuranks.com, no state has as many mosquitoes as Louisiana.
Louisiana takes the cake as the most mosquito-prone state. The Bayou State’s hot and humid summers provide the perfect breeding ground for these pesky insects.
Keeping the facts in perspective: that we already have more mosquitoes than any other state and even the coldest weather only lessens the population during the cold snap, we must face the reality that life in Louisiana, even with Arctic fronts like the one now, aren't going to protect us from being eaten alive this summer.
It's just life in Louisiana.