Fewer mosquitoes in Saskatoon this summer thanks to dry conditions

According to experts, Saskatoon is seeing far fewer mosquitoes this summer, below the 10-year average based on city traps.

Temperature plays a huge role in this and so does lack of rain and moisture.

“If you have a lot of rain, that’s good but if you have a lot of heat that’s bad,” Sean Pragar, associate professor at University of Saskatchewan.

The right amount of rain at the right time is needed for the insect to breed because it requires stagnant water to lay eggs.

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So far, the weather in Saskatoon has not been prime for mosquitoes.

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“(For Saskatoon), it’s because probably it’s been a little drier than we actually think it has been, and then probably the precipitation that we have had is not necessarily been in the best form for mosquitoes,” Pragar said.

Prager says that Saskatchewan has very low numbers of mosquitos carrying disease.

He says they are almost exclusively seen as a pest.

“Despite the fact that mosquitoes are annoying. We have very low numbers of mosquitoes carrying anything that is actually problematic,” Pagar said. “And so while we have them, they are almost exclusively a pest in that they’re biting us and we don’t like it, but they are not a real health risk to almost anybody.”