The City of Saskatoon is buzzing as the weather gets warmer, but that also means a certain pest is swarming in the city.
Mosquito counts in the city were five times higher last week than the 10-year average.
“We saw a big jump in the population of mosquitos in our traps,” said Sydney Worthy, a City of Saskatoon entomologist.
She said it’s a “perfect storm” with there having been a lot of rain and heat in the area.
Worthy said that compared to last year, we’ve already had half the amount of rain reported for all of June.
She said the city has a larvicide treatment program that tries to eliminate mosquitos while they are still in their larval state.
Residents are being asked to watch for pools of standing water on their property, whether it be bird feeders, eaves troughs, cups, children’s toys, etc., with the city saying mosquitos can breed within those conditions.
Worthy said they expect to see mosquito numbers increase over the summer until hotter and dryer weather makes its way to Saskatoon.
In regards to mosquitos that carry the West Nile virus, she said those mosquitos show up more between July and August, noting they are monitoring for them in the city traps.