A Changing Climate and Mosquitoes in Connecticut

Our changing climate is changing our mosquito population year after year...

Weather and a changing climate are a critical component of Connecticut's mosquito population. 

This summer is expected to close out as the sixth warmest on record since in addition humidity levels are higher than normal. This directly correlates to an increased mosquito population this summer.

Philip Armstrong from the Department of Environmental Sciences says "the mosquitoes this ear are bad we're seeing more mosquitoes in are trap collections than our long term averages and that is largely due to the weather conditions."

Philip went out to say that this wasn't the only year we're dealing with above normal numbers in fact "last year was a record year in terms of the number of mosquitoes that we collected"

Unfortunately with rising temperatures, increasing humidity, and increased rainfall the mosquito population will only increase in years to come.

Data from Climate Central shows that the mosquito seasons are starting earlier and ending later year after year.

From 1980 to 1989 there were and average of 71 active mosquito days and now the average is over 100 days per year in Connecticut. 

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This is allowing for new species of mosquitoes to progress northward. One of those species is the Asian Tiger mosquito which is capable of carrying the Zika Virus a virus we have never seen here in Connecticut. 

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