Spring Update – Cold Temperatures Delay Mosquitoes; Fewer Predicted in the Summer
April 27, 2022
Weekly Update – May 16th – Not Many Adult Mosquitoes Yet, Ticks are Prevalent
May 24, 2022
Helicopters were calibrated earlier this week and are now up in several cities treating wetlands.
Helicopter treatments for wetlands holding mosquito larvae began this week.
One of the early signs that the mosquito season has begun is the sound of helicopters swooping over wetlands and beginning larval control treatments. Before the helicopters take to the sky we spend at least a day calibrating all of the equipment to ensure that the materials are being dropped in the target area. See a video from helicopter calibration on our Instagram page.
Thanks to good weather conditions including low wind, and many of our facilities finding human-biting mosquito larvae that was almost ready to pupate, the decision was made to begin helicopter treatments this week rather than pushing it back. Helicopters are up today mainly in Ramsey and northern Hennepin County and they will be up Friday in several others. View the full list of cities with planned helicopter activity updated daily on our Helicopter Activity page.
Helicopters apply a dry granule or pellet containing a natural soil bacterium or a mosquito growth regulator to wetlands and large areas of standing water to prevent larval mosquitoes from becoming biting adults. These are bio-rational control materials which specifically target mosquito larvae and pose no risk to human or animal health. MMCD helicopters DO NOT apply liquid control materials that target adult mosquitoes. Learn more about our mosquito control program.
Loading helicopters with control materials.
Mosquito surveillance begins the week of May 16th
In last week's update we mentioned that we predicted a lower than average mosquito season for 2022. We will have a better idea once we begin mosquito surveillance during the week of May 16th. Each Monday night throughout the summer we set up CO2 traps and have volunteers conduct mosquito sweep net collections to count active adult mosquitoes and identify them by species.
Last year around that same week there were not many human biting mosquitoes. We will likely begin seeing greater numbers of black flies (biting gnats) around the Twin Cities as they begin their spring hatch and emerge from rivers and streams. MMCD works with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to secure permits to treat certain streams and rivers for the larvae of black flies.
We will know more in the coming weeks as our seasonal technicians continue to to adult and larval mosquito surveillance!
Read our press release about the types of activities MMCD staff do in your community.
