Is 2012 going to be a "good" year for mosquitoes?

[SumoMan]

Hoping anybody with knowledge on this topic can chime in...

I thought I heard somebody say that 2012 was going to be a "good" year for mosquitoes.
When I say good I mean that there will be less of them around.

I believe the rationale is that our mild / limited precipitation winter has/will equate(d) to not-so-good conditions for their proliferation.

Can anybody substantiate this or offer thoughts?

Cheers

[r1lee]

mosquitoes thrive on standing water. From what i see, we have had very little rain this year (so far).

[Mark77]

Not out west. Barely any snow this year. We'll be lucky if the west doesn't burn up with forrest fires and grass fires.

[samkat]

a VERY mild winter will have most pesty insects appearing earlier and healthier. Let the breeding begin...

[BornRuff]

a VERY mild winter will have most pesty insects appearing earlier and healthier. Let the breeding begin...

I think that the impending armageddon will help thin them out though.

[Mr. Robo]

Nope, cause last spring we had a crap load of rain.

[BluePhirePB]

It's been a pretty dry spring so far so it'll impede their appearances for now.

[pnyknights]

It's been a pretty dry spring so far so it'll impede their appearances for now.

It was raining last night and still going today...I had to shoo away a couple flies by my car that were getting freaky on Thurdsay afternoon as well......just sayin' ;)

[007craft]

I hope this years better. End of august last year I went on a hike/overnight camp and got 147 mosquitoe bytes (Yes I counted them). It was rather funny in my tent at the top of the mountain, there were millions of them trying to get in. I was basically forced to cower in my tent. I must of used a whole bottle of spray too.

It was only at 2am, when the temperature dipped below 0 that I ventured out of my tent, freezing cold, but not a mosquitoe anywhere to bite me. They of course were back at full force in the morning for my hike down :(

[mbg]

Great new invention: female mosquitoes that are genetically engineered to not be able to fly: http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/1165546--researchers-create-mosquitoes-that-can-t-spread-dengue?bn=1

Not sure how this could be applied to the human population in future but it sound kinda interesting.

[dragon_drift]

I hope this years better. End of august last year I went on a hike/overnight camp and got 147 mosquitoe bytes (Yes I counted them). It was rather funny in my tent at the top of the mountain, there were millions of them trying to get in. I was basically forced to cower in my tent. I must of used a whole bottle of spray too.

It was only at 2am, when the temperature dipped below 0 that I ventured out of my tent, freezing cold, but not a mosquitoe anywhere to bite me. They of course were back at full force in the morning for my hike down :(

Scary. I had mosquitos in my room once. I stayed awake during that night as it flew by trying to suck me and i'm trying to find and kill it.

[chinesedevil]

Don't think we'll see a lot of mosquito if temperatures stay this low in Toronto.

[Peckerwood]

I have already killed my first three mosquitoes...despite there still being snow and ice on the ground

The skeeters up here are diehards and fierce...most times they hunt in packs of 100 or more, but every once in a while a lone sniper gets through and hunts in the dead of the night....in your room...while you sleep.

A contest was held up here years ago to determine the Territorial Bird. It was an open ballot system where people would simply write down their choice of winged beast. When the votes were tallied, the mosquito got nearly 55% of the votes. But since it had to be clarified to the people that, despite its size and overwhelmingly powerful presence, the mosquito isn't a bird...the runner up was chosen instead...The Common Raven.

True story. :razz: