SUAMICO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Mosquitoes are still pestering people across Northeast Wisconsin.
Experts say recent rain is to blame.
Laura Melotte was hiking on Lineville Road–while she typically sticks to the trails, she and her husband say there are just too many mosquitos.
“We were dealing with the horseflies for a while, and mosquitoes. So the horseflies are gone, still mosquitoes though,” said Laura Melotte, Suamico.
Experts say female mosquitoes often use human blood to fertilize eggs, and need standing water to hatch those eggs. They say recent rains turned many places into breeding grounds.
“For the flood water mosquitoes, they’ll go 5-10-even 20 miles from there they were hatched. They’re pretty strong flyers, so that’s why we’re starting to see them more by our houses, even some suburban areas, rather than just out in the woods,” said Jason Petrella, Brown County Program and Natural Resource Manager.
Petrella says people should remove standing water from places like plastic tarps, and outdoor dog bowls. He says wearing light-colored clothing helps, and so does bug spray with the chemical DEET. He says cooler weather will help too.
“Mosquitoes are cold-blooded, so the colder the temperature the less active they are. So, if you get into those forties, fifties even, they’ll slow way down. It’s not going to probably stop them completely, but they won’t be as aggressive as they are when it’s warmer out, in the seventies, or eighties,” said Petrella.
Meanwhile the Melotte’s continue their trek, from the relative safety of the shoulder.
“When it cools off now, we’ll go back into the woods, a little bit, and try that again, but otherwise, we’re going to stay on the road today. I don’t want to go back in the woods right now,” said Laura Melotte.
Experts say there are more than 50 different species of mosquitoes in Wisconsin.
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