Warm Winter May Portend A Bad Mosquito Season In New Jersey [AUDIO]

While many of us have been enjoying a no-snow, warm winter, New Jersey may have to “pay the piper” for the mild weather. Some have reported seeing mosquitoes as early as mid-February.

Ary Farajollahi of Mercer County Mosquito Control finds the lack of cold weather troubling as it pertains to controlling the population of Jersey’s “national bird.”

Farajollahi says if these mild temperature trends continue, and they may very well as the end of winter grows ever-nearer, he predicts Jersey may have a large population of mosquitoes on our hands by early spring.

He says some species of mosquito over-winter in their adult stage, and it is warm weather that can drive them out of their so-called hibernaculi, or place of hibernation during the winter months.

Farajollahi says the aggressive Asian Tiger mosquito…known as an “invasive species” here, may be a big problem because cold weather during the winter destroys a lot of Asian Tiger eggs. If that’s not happening now, these big biters may be around in force later.

And of course, any discussion of mosquitoes must also include rainfall and the amount of standing water that is lying around, because many species need water to breed. And while it is true that February was considerably dry and January and December saw average precipitation, previous months in 2011 were very wet, with hurricane Irene and tropical storm Lee. A wet spring may also heighten the favorable conditions for New Jersey mosquitoes.