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Saskatchewan may be swatting away fewer mosquitoes for the rest of the camping season.
If August is as dry as recent months, that could mean more standing bodies of water drying up, meaning fewer mosquitoes will be breeding.
“We just kind of have to wait and see,” said Sydney Worthy, the entomologist for the City of Saskatoon. “It’s hard to predict, but if I had to guess at the moment I think we don’t have to worry too much about mosquitoes getting worse into August.”
Worthy said Saskatchewan saw quite a spike in mosquito numbers earlier on in the season, which sent mosquito counts in the province above the 10-year average for a few weeks.
The spike was caused by extreme heat during the spring months mixed with some precipitation, which Worthy said is the perfect combination for mosquitoes to breed.
“We’re seeing a lot of those standing water bodies dry up that we had earlier in the spring,” said Worthy.
“We’re still getting the occasional rainfall here and there that are keeping enough standing water bodies for mosquitoes to still be around. They’ll be fairly active, but less than we see on a 10-year average.”
Worthy said mosquito numbers will be high for the end of July and into the first week of August, which is normal for the time of year.
At this time in the summer, the culex tarsalis mosquitoes tend to come out in larger numbers, which are the mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus.
“We don’t tend to see them until right about now, and we are finding them now in our traps,” said Worthy. “The provincial government monitors them as well, and they do tests to see the risk for West Nile virus, so we do traps for them.”
Worthy said the current culex tarsalis numbers aren’t a cause for concern, as long as people are taking the proper preventative measures against mosquitoes.
Worthy recommended limiting time outdoors at dusk when mosquitoes are especially active, wearing loose, long-fitting clothing, removing standing water from yards and wearing proper bug spray.
At a time when culex tarsalis mosquitoes are present in the province, Worthy also recommended keeping up to date with the Government of Saskatchewan’s West Nile virus surveillance reports.