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Mosquito hatch delayed by cold, snowy spring

The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District says cold water temps are likely to keep larvae from the pesky, biting insects from hatching for awhile.

ST PAUL, Minn. — Editor's note: The video above first aired on June 12, 2022. 

Weary of winter's lingering presence, with cooler temps, snow and a seemingly endless helping of seasonal misery?

Well, there might be one positive, in the form of a pest we might not see for a little while. 

The Metropolitan Mosquito Control District (MMCD) says in a typical year, field crews will begin finding mosquito larvae in swamps, ponds, lakes and puddles as early as mid-March. In 2022, the first larvae, which hatches into the biting bug, was discovered on March 18. 

Not so in 2023. Spring storms and colder-than-normal temps have many bodies of water still frozen and snow-covered, leaving mosquito control crews unable to sample for larvae. 

"The cold temperatures are likely to delay the start of the spring mosquito emergence as cold water slows down the mosquito metamorphosis and will likely keep them in the water as larvae for longer," read a statement from MMCD. 

Unseasonal weather will eventually make its way out of Minnesota, and with 2022-23 being the 3rd-snowiest winter on record, the National Weather Service is projecting a wetter-than-average spring. You know what that means: lots of standing water and warm temps are a recipe for healthy mosquito hatches. 

"This means that when adult mosquitoes do emerge they might come out in higher numbers than the previous two years of drought," explains the MMCD.

Of course, the rate of melting and ground absorption will also factor into the equation. The bottom line is that predicting the severity of a mosquito season is a lot like predicting the weather, easier to talk about than it is to actually do. 

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