Yes, more rainfall leads to more standing water, which mosquitoes use to breed. If mosquitoes are able to breed more in the spring, their population numbers will be much higher throughout the months to follow.
If you've been watching the rain and already dreading what summer is going to look like in terms of mosquitoes, then you’re onto something. There really is a connection between spring rainfall and summer mosquito pressure in Northeast Wisconsin. Spring weather can swing from snowmelt to thunderstorms in a matter of weeks, and a wet stretch can easily lay the groundwork for a miserable mosquito season.
Mosquitoes hatch eggs in standing water. They don’t need a lot of either, and just a bottle cap of water is enough to start the next generation. So that means for the unlucky homeowner, every puddle or flooded ditch, waterlogged tire or overflowing rain barrel can quickly become a mosquito nursery. They can even breed in sagging grill covers where water pools.
Female mosquitoes lay eggs on or near the surface of still water, and larvae develop in that water until they emerge as flying adults. When the weather is warm, the cycle from egg to biting adult takes roughly 7–10 days. After a week of steady rain, the landscape is dotted with thousands of small breeding pools that didn’t exist when the weather was drier. Ten days later, the first wave of adults from those pools takes flight. Another rain event refills them and the cycle begins anew.
Wisconsin's spring pattern is especially productive for mosquitoes. The rain, unfortunately, tends to come right alongside warming weather. The higher daytime temps that reach the 60s and 70s speed up larval development which is occurring in the standing water that the rainfall leaves behind. This is why it feels like mosquito season can go from zero to sixty in Wisconsin right around late May and early June.
If you’re tired of dealing with mosquitoes on your property after it rains, Mosquito Squad of Northeast Wisconsin can help. This can be done through barrier treatments that reduce the mosquito population on your property before and during the seasonal surge. That way, you can get ahead of what a wet spring sets in motion.
