Spring rains create the standing water mosquitoes need to breed. More rain means more breeding sites, and the population surge typically arrives one to two weeks after the heaviest rainfall.
April showers bring May mosquitoes. You might have noticed this, and it’s worth knowing why this is the case.
Female mosquitoes lay eggs in or near standing water. The larvae develop in that water over 7–14 days before emerging as flying, biting adults. Every puddle, clogged gutter, flooded ditch, waterlogged tire, and sagging tarp that holds water after a spring rainstorm becomes a potential nursery. After a week of steady rain, the landscape is dotted with breeding sites that didn't exist during drier weather.
Metro Detroit has a lot of flat terrain and much of the soil here is heavy clay. Water has a harder time draining than it would on sandy or sloped ground. So it can pool in low spots in yards and drainage swales that back up, as well as poorly graded areas near foundations. Left unchecked, any of these places can easily become a breeding ground for the next round of mosquitoes.
As daytime temperatures reach the 60s and 70s, mosquito larvae develop faster and adults emerge sooner. This means that the population is able to build more quickly than it would from the same amount of rain in cooler weather. There are also floodwater mosquito species, which lay eggs in soil that floods occasionally. Those eggs can sit dormant for months until spring rain triggers hatching. A single heavy storm can activate millions of these dormant eggs across all Metro Detroit.
You can’t stop the rain, but you can reduce the breeding sites on your property and suppress the population before it peaks. If that’s something you would like to do, Mosquito Squad of Metro Detroit can help. Mosquito Squad treats the areas where mosquitoes breed and rest across your property, reducing the population by up to 90% for 21 days at a time.
