For the first time in over a month, the City of Regina is reporting a below average number of mosquitoes in the city’s control zone.
Crews are reporting 55 mosquitoes were caught per trap in the city, four lower than the historic average of 59.
City spokesperson Russell Eirich said while there’s been a lot of improvement, there’s a strong chance the mosquitoes will return shortly.
“We saw a significant rainfall event last week, and we’re starting to see the mosquitoes come back again, so we’re going to have some more work to do.”
Eirich said they have already used over 18,000 kilograms (kg) of product to kill the larvae.
“On average over the past five years, we generally average 15,000 kg of product, so again, we’re above the average in terms of product use (and) we still have a full month for our mosquito program to go,” Eirich said. “Our intention is to run the mosquito program right until the middle-end of September, depending on when that killing frost comes.”
In case you were wondering what Mosquito Larvae looked like… #yqr #sask #CityBuzz pic.twitter.com/C0aPBMFyoK
— Ryan McNally (@RyanE_McNally) August 20, 2019
Eirich said one reason for the decrease is relatively dry conditions in the area.
“We also saw some emergence of dragonfly adults starting to help us out a little bit, so there’s that,” Eirich said. “The cooler nights will definitely help, that makes mosquitoes less active, but again, and average is always an average, and it’s comparable for the time of year, so in late August, you’re going to start to see the evenings cool down anyways.”
Eirich also had an update on dutch elm disease numbers for the summer. He said there were 14 confirmed cases this year, and trees that had the disease have been removed.
