Cold, snowy spring means fewer mosquitoes

NEW YORK (FOX5NY.COM) - The late start to spring has many people itching to get out of the house. But the good is that the itch from mosquito bites may be felt less this year because of the colder weather, according to experts.

"So the mosquito eggs that were laid last fall did their thing over wintering and they were ready to come out maybe a couple weeks ago but then we had some," said Lisa Filippi, an associate professor of biology at Hofstra University.

Filippi, who studies insect behavior, said we may see a lower population of pesky mosquitoes because the cold weather caused many insects and organisms to die.

"When we have cold weather very late in the winter, almost spring, we have insects that are relying on differences in day length and in temperature to complete their cycles and to know when to come out again," Filippi said.

The Nassau County Department of Public Works has started scoping out breeding sites. In the next few weeks, the Department of Health will begin trapping and testing the mosquitoes.

It goes by the soil temperatures and the air temperatures—that's when things are triggered to flower, that's when things are triggered to hatch," arborist Evan Dackow said. "Mosquitoes and a lot of the other bugs, right now, they haven't hatched because it hasn't been warm enough."

Dackow said he doesn't think we'll escape mosquitoes altogether but fluctuating temperatures are far from ideal for larvae.

"Maybe they'll be a little bit less just because they had to live on their stored nutrients a few weeks longer than they expected to," Dackow said.

Health officials say you should still wear bug spray and avoid leaving standing water outside.