Mosquitoes in January

[McMike]

I live in the Northeast USA and the weather has been so warm that when I let the dogs out a few evenings ago, I let in a mosquito. The most deadly thing in the world, which is supposed to be dormant in what is the dead of winter here, is awake. That was an ominous sign in my estimation.

[bluedog225]

I don’t know where the big ones hide.

I took a dark brown bucket full of bamboo roots and stems and muck. Put some black plastic strips in the bamboo. Put it in a dark corner of the yard. Let it rot. Regularly put some BT granules to keep them from breeding. Once a week or so, early in the morning or late in the evening, I hit it with a cheap mosquito fogger. Dramatic improvement in a month or so.

[McMike]

I don’t know where the big ones hide.

I took a dark brown bucket full of bamboo roots and stems and muck. Put some black plastic strips in the bamboo. Put it in a dark corner of the yard. Let it rot. Regularly put some BT granules to keep them from breeding. Once a week or so, early in the morning or late in the evening, I hit it with a cheap mosquito fogger. Dramatic improvement in a month or so.

My point was that, in my life, I have never seen a mosquito in January here.

[Garret]

My point was that, in my life, I have never seen a mosquito in January here.

Climate change is a hoax Mike - you didn't really see one!

Traditionally in VT, we get a January thaw followed by below zero for a week or 3. Coldest day so far (I'm 30 miles from Canada!) was 14F & in early January we had upper 50's.

[Canoez]

My point was that, in my life, I have never seen a mosquito in January here.

Same - until last year.

The lack of sustained cold temperatures in the northeast is letting the populations of certain insects grow - ticks come to mind - and they are devastating populations of other animals. Moose and deer have been hit particularly hard.

[Rich Jones]

Climate change is a hoax Mike - you didn't really see one!

Traditionally in VT, we get a January thaw followed by below zero for a week or 3. Coldest day so far (I'm 30 miles from Canada!) was 14F & in early January we had upper 50's.

And the ski resorts are low on snow but not on skiers. Resorts have only 60% of their trails open but no lack of skiers. The trails are packed with a million skiers all trying to use the same patch of real estate.

[WszystekPoTrochu]

Killed a mosquito in January in late 2010's. I think it wasn't the same year we had a literal thunderstorm - considered normal for late May through early August - on New Year's Eve.

Thinna i ardhon: han mathon ne nen, han mathon ne chef, han noston ne gwilith.

[McMike]

Mosquito eggs of many mosquito species overwinter outside, frozen in water, but adult mosquitoes can weather the winter inside. As evidence of the latter, there have been malaria outbreaks in Siberia, due to mosquitoes living indoors. But, my guess is that your mosquito was due to an egg hatching in the warm weather outdoors. It would need time, however, to go through the larval stage.

Ominous, if it is a sign of long term climate change and not unusual seasonal weather.

Climate change will have many consequences, and one of interest is the spread of malaria into new geographical regions, and higher elevations. This will not necessarily be due to the mosquito vector spreading to new regions; rather, that increases in environmental temperature will allow the malaria parasite to develop faster within the mosquito vector. The mosquito needs to take blood into its gut to become infected, then take blood again to transmit the parasite from its salivary glands*. Between blood feedings the parasite requires time to develop from the mosquito gut to the salivary glands.

The climate change denialists use the anecdotal evidence of malaria in Siberia as evidence that, 'See, malaria has always been in cold regions.' But, that mosquito was living indoors, unaffected by the external environment.

*One remarkable instance of convergent evolution is that all hematophagous insects, those that live on blood, have pronounced salivary glands - because they spit when they eat.

Anyway, morning coffee geek off.

I did not know that. I've not seen one since October, anywhere, so I'm inclined to think they are not inside. But it's possible.

Our average daytime temps have been in the high 40's hitting 50 F way to many days over the past month. And nights have only dropped down under freezing a few times, maybe once or twice a week for the past four weeks with the exception of a three-day cold snap over Xmas. We've had prolonged falls and early springs for the past 10 years, the climate is getting warmer here for sure. Glad I'm moving north. I prefer to live where it freezes for a few months just to let all the nasties like ticks and mosquitos literally chill out.

[Garret]

I did not know that. I've not seen one since October, anywhere, so I'm inclined to think they are not inside. But it's possible.

Our average daytime temps have been in the high 40's hitting 50 F way to many days over the past month. And nights have only dropped down under freezing a few times, maybe once or twice a week for the past four weeks with the exception of a three-day cold snap over Xmas. We've had prolonged falls and early springs for the past 10 years, the climate is getting warmer here for sure. Glad I'm moving north. I prefer to live where it freezes for a few months just to let all the nasties like ticks and mosquitos literally chill out.

Dunno where you're moving Mike - but ticks are out & moving 12 months out of the year here in VT now. Far fewer with snow cover, but much of Dec & Jan has been snow-free this year.

[McMike]

Dunno where you're moving Mike - but ticks are out & moving 12 months out of the year here in VT now. Far fewer with snow cover, but much of Dec & Jan has been snow-free this year.

JFC . . . Really!? Can't even do a winter hike without tick spray . . . . . . that sucks.

[WI-Tom]

A year or two back, lilacs bloomed in October in Wisconsin. Lots of stuff going on, none of it good in the long run. Last week it was 61 F in Wrocłąw, at 51 degrees north latitude. Seems unlikely that's typical weather.

Tom

[Garret]

My (limited) experience here is that ticks come out earlier in the year than mosquitoes.

Damn, that would suck (heh) if ticks were year-round.

Hmm...do the adult ticks overwinter outdoors? That would explain that they are 'out.'

Thanks for your mosquito info above. What I've been told is that it was only the week or 3 of below zero F weather that killed them off in the past & that the warmer temps we now have don't. Yes, they overwinter outdoors - leaf mold & such debris being their favorite hangout.

Wonderful, eh? You can get Lyme all year 'round!

[McMike]

Same - until last year.

The lack of sustained cold temperatures in the northeast is letting the populations of certain insects grow - ticks come to mind - and they are devastating populations of other animals. Moose and deer have been hit particularly hard.

I had read that Moose were in dramatic decline from ticks. Sad.

[WszystekPoTrochu]

A year or two back, lilacs bloomed in October in Wisconsin. Lots of stuff going on, none of it good in the long run. Last week it was 61 F in Wrocłąw, at 51 degrees north latitude. Seems unlikely that's typical weather.

Tom

This weekend and the coming week is what I would normally expect from January, plus an episode of a week or maybe two of 0F during whole winter. Last "true cold" week happened 10 years ago...

[L.W. Baxter]

we had a normally cold november-december here, including our annual short spell of snow. but the weather turned mild at christmas.

so mild, my chickens are laying as if it were june. yesterday got 9 eggs from 13 hens. i'm rich!

[Rigadog]

several time this winter houseflies have hatched out outside our house here in Pittsburgh. Seems strange. Bulbs are poking up also.

[Garret]

several time this winter houseflies have hatched out outside our house here in Pittsburgh. Seems strange. Bulbs are poking up also.

Ladybugs! The Asian variety. Normally we get a bunch moving in/hatching in the fall. This year, we're still getting nailed with 'em. I bet we've vacuumed up a hundred in the last week.

[Katherine]

It’s snowing here.

[elf]

Cold does not kill or help control the tick population. Google it.

[elf]

Back in the '80s and '90s I used to accumulate 6 or 8 small pails of compostables frozen solid on the back portch throughout the winter. Now the pile never freezes and I can empty the pail any time.

Anyone who thinks climate change is a hoax is nuts.

[sp_clark]

Friendamine in CT (southeast corner, almost in NY) said she'd slapped a skeeter a week, ten days back. She's a surveyor, outdoor type gal.

I'd been told ticks'll be active & pose a threat anytime temp's above 32F. Colder'll kill 'em but it has to be cold & for a long time with 'em exposed to it, not under the snow. True-to-life opportunists those critters.

[Garret]

Friendamine in CT (southeast corner, almost in NY) said she'd slapped a skeeter a week, ten days back. She's a surveyor, outdoor type gal.

I'd been told ticks'll be active & pose a threat anytime temp's above 32F. Colder'll kill 'em but it has to be cold & for a long time with 'em exposed to it, not under the snow. True-to-life opportunists those critters.

Southwest maybe? Southeast borders RI... Just as warm there though.

[JayInOz]

And down this way- https://www.smh.com.au/environment/w...17-p5bz10.html

[sp_clark]

Southwest maybe? Southeast borders RI... Just as warm there though.

Yah, keyed that'n in w/o thinking it through. CT's east of me (quite a bit!), E of NY too.

She's just east of the NY/CT border, but SW corner of her state. Good catch Garret, you're paying attention, as always....

[sp_clark]

With climate change, more regions might be amenable for the establishment of the tiger mosquito.

https://entomologytoday.org/2017/06/...urban-setting/

Not quite up-to-date information; this, from 2016, shows their extent.

[Stiletto]

I've noticed in recent years that mosquitos sometimes survive through the winter in this subtropical climate. That wasn't always the case.

[Breakaway]

Southwest maybe? Southeast borders RI... Just as warm there though.

SE corner of CT aint far from Fishers Island, NY!




FWIW, kill a deer here in January and ticks are pouring off them. Has been that way as long as I can remember. More ticks now then in the past, but ticks in abundance always

Saw a big flock of robins last week. A harbinger of spring!

Kevin


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[Garret]

Yah, keyed that'n in w/o thinking it through. CT's east of me (quite a bit!), E of NY too.

She's just east of the NY/CT border, but SW corner of her state. Good catch Garret, you're paying attention, as always....

Helps that I grew up (got older anyway) in CT about 2 miles from the NY border.

SE corner of CT aint far from Fishers Island, NY!




FWIW, kill a deer here in January and ticks are pouring off them. Has been that way as long as I can remember. More ticks now then in the past, but ticks in abundance always

Saw a big flock of robins last week. A harbinger of spring!

Kevin


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OK - you got me with Fishers. Always thought it should be part of CT - kinda like the Greek Islands really ought to be part of Turkey.

As a kid in CT, ticks were always abundant - though mostly dog ticks. I got a break from 'em when I moved up here, but no more.

[Breakaway]

/-y

[Breakaway]

Yah, keyed that'n in w/o thinking it through. CT's east of me (quite a bit!), E of NY too.

CT is North of this part of NY!


Kevin






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[leikec]

I’ve only had one tick on me in six years of hiking in my part of Michigan.

Jeff C

[Rigadog]

Congratulations!~ I've had Lymes 2x

[Garret]

Congratulations!~ I've had Lymes 2x

As have I - both caught in VT. Common now in ME as well.

[Garret]

CT is North of this part of NY!


Kevin

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And parts of CT are west of some NY towns!

[Breakaway]

And parts of CT are west of some NY towns!

Yep.

There are plenty, both North and West of me!




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