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The boys (and girls) are back in town.
The mosquito population in Regina exploded over the weekend, thanks to some recent rainstorms followed by periods of heat.
According to Russell Eirich — the City of Regina’s senior program manager for forestry, pest control and horticulture — mosquito counts on Friday found an average of five mosquitoes per trap. The historical average for that period was 39 mosquitoes per trap.
Two nights later …
“For the Sunday night-only counts — what the lab counted (Monday) — we were at 106 mosquitoes per trap,” Eirich said Monday during a media availability.
“Our average for the historical average, if you want to put that in some perspective, is approximately 70. In one night, we exceeded the average.”
Eirich said Regina has received 88 millimetres of rain since June 19. Crews have been spraying in areas of the city that mosquitoes tend to frequent and, in fact, put out 10,000 pounds of larvicide in an attempt to kill the pests.
“That amount of product treats approximately 575 CFL-sized football fields,” Eirich said. “That’s how much standing water we’ve treated over the past three weeks.”
Even so, the mosquitoes have arrived. Now, city crews are encouraging residents to help keep the bugs at bay.
Eirich reminded members of the public to drain any standing water in their backyards, from puddles to birdbaths to watering cans.
Citizens who don’t want to deal with bites are urged to wear loose-fitting, light-coloured clothing, to avoid going out at peak biting times (a half-hour before and a half-hour after sunset) and to use repellents.
As well, the city discovered a few culex tarsalis mosquitoes in its traps. Those are the pests that are responsible for the spread of West Nile virus among humans.
While the number of mosquitoes skyrocketed over the weekend, Eirich said the population will drop — for a while.
“A generation of adult mosquitoes lasts approximately seven to 10 days, so we should start to see numbers come down a little bit,” Eirich said. “That said, they are out laying eggs and you’re going to see a repeat in the cycle.”