Mosquito Season Off To An Early Start

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Pest control businesses say mosquito season is off to an early start this year in the Twin Cities metro.

Jeremy Davidson of Mosquito Squad says as soon as the air temperature gets higher than 55 degrees, mosquitoes can thrive.

But, an early start to the season doesn't necessarily mean it'll be a rough one.

Maple Grove homeowner Jeff Kruse is already seeing mosquitoes around his home.

He lives in a heavily-wooded area on a lake.

"The mosquitoes were still buzzing around your head," Kruse said. "That's in the middle of the day, at night, it was unbearable. So we had a yard that we would look at, but we didn't really use."

Five years ago, he had enough, calling on the Mosquito Squad to take care of the problem.

Davidson explains mosquitoes can come from a lot of places.

"Any damp, cool areas out of the wind," Davidson said.

Davidson is spraying a few weeks earlier than usual this year because of a warmer winter, but entomologists who study the bugs say bigger bodies of water in Minnesota probably won't be warm enough to help mosquitoes thrive until early June.

The more rain falls during the spring and summer, the worse mosquito season will get.

Davidson says homeowners can take one simple step to control the environment around their property by emptying out anything capable of collecting standing water.

Several pest control companies had inquiries about spraying to control the risk for mosquito-borne Zika virus.

There have been 12 cases reported in Minnesota, from people who traveled abroad.

Entomologists at the University of Minnesota told WCCO Zika virus is mostly a problem in tropical climates and the mosquitoes that carry the virus aren't based this far north.