Fewer bugs forecast for Edmonton this summer
'They're not going to be able to get to the same level of nest building that we've seen in previous years'
Edmonton's summer bug forecast is here. And, according to one city official, we can expect fewer pests taking to the skies this patio season.
"Everything is tremendously delayed so far this year," Michael Jenkins, the city's senior biological technologist said on Friday. "We're not seeing a lot of development of those pest species that normally we would see."
He attributes the relatively bug-free forecast to the cold and dry weather that has persisted throughout the region since the winter.
"The mosquitoes so far this year have been greatly delayed," Jenkins said. "We had a really cool spring season. April was a lot colder than normal and didn't have as much snow going into it and not actually as much rain."
The Edmonton region's first real hatch of mosquitoes was several weeks later than expected this year, Jenkins said.
And while area residents might be encountering some of those adult mosquitoes this weekend, they won't be around long.
Other pests
Of course, mosquitoes aren't the only picnic-ruining pests that typically emerge this time of year. But luckily for us, everything from ants to bees to caterpillars seem to be behind schedule.
"Things like ants and yellowjackets, stuff like that, they really love hot and dry and that's kind of the opposite of what we've seen so far," Jenkins said.
"They're not going to be able to get to the same level of nest building that we've seen in previous years. So, in terms of ants and yellow-jackets, certainly, largely those numbers we expect to be lower this year."