Why are mosquitoes bugging Louisiana residents in winter?

Kenny Lopez
·1 min read

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Have you noticed the unusual presence of mosquitoes now in the winter? Many folks in Southeast Louisiana are complaining about being bitten by these insects and they think it is odd in wintertime.

WGNO’s Kenny Lopez went for answers at the Audubon Insectarium.

Mosquitoes sure are bugging us right now in Southeast Louisiana.

“When you get bitten by a mosquito, it’s a female. Female mosquitoes have to take blood meal in order to form their eggs,” said Audubon Insectarium Animal Collections Curator Zack Lemann.

Lemann said the reason we are seeing so many mosquitoes this winter is because it is warm enough and wet enough, so they are now pestering us.

The Anatomy of a Crawfish

“When the rains came back in late November, so did the mosquitoes. We’ve had a pretty warm winter and once the rains came back, a lot of mosquito eggs that were dry finally had the water that larvae needed, so they hatched and we have a lot of mosquitoes,” Lemann said.

He said the extreme drought that we had over the summer greatly affected the mosquito population.

“Think about how little you got bit over the summer. In this particular year, we had about four months where it was so dry. The mosquito population, they just weren’t around,” Lemann said.

As always, there are only a few ways to fight the pesky bloodsuckers.

“They are most active at dawn and dusk, so you don’t want to be outside at those times, and you can always wear long sleeves, and you could always use repellent,” he said.

As long as it’s hot outside, mosquitoes will love us, no matter the season. We just want to keep them off.

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