Rain Expected To Spur Mosquito Population

As president of the LITH Youth Athletic Association, Mark Lonigro is familiar with the onset of mosquito season.

It tends to coincide with baseball season.

Lonigro said last week the pesky insects haven’t struck local ball fields or the families watching evening games.

“I can't say the mosquitoes have been very noticeable yet at the park,” Lonigro said.

But Clarke Environmental Mosquito Management spokesperson Laura McGowan told Patch last week to beware. They’re coming.

“Right now, we’re seeing a lot of flood water mosquitoes,” said McGowan, who works for the Roselle-based company. “We’re seeing them all over the Chicagoland area.”

McGowan said recent abundant rains are activating an onslaught of hatchings from mosquito eggs that could have been laid as much as five years ago. The cooler evening temperatures that moved in after the rain may be keeping them at bay.

“Mosquitoes are less active when it’s cooler,” McGowan said. “When we hit those 90 degree temperatures again, everybody starts noticing them.”

Mosquitoes’ prime feeding times are at dusk and dawn, McGowan said.

Take Steps to Keep Mosquitoes Away

Since the insect is capable of laying 200 to 300 eggs every five to seven days, now is the time for residents to take preventative measures.

“Residents need to go around their yards, and clear out any standing puddles, empty buckets that may have standing water, and empty bird baths,” she said. “The biggest culprits are baby swimming pools since people don’t chlorinate them and they often have leftover water in them.”

People also need to know there are different species of mosquitoes that have unique biting and breeding habits. The flood water mosquitoes – called the aedes vexans - prefer to bite humans, and are poor carriers for the West Nile Virus, McGowan said.

The culex pipiens come out in hot and dry conditions and are the West Nile carriers.

“When water dries up, and there’s less to feed on, the culex pipiens will bite on anything, humans and animals,” McGowan said. “They end up feeding on the same animals.”

Final Year of Mosquito Management Agreement for LITH

LITH is in its final year of a four-year mosquito management agreement with Clarke. The village will pay $30,257 this summer for services that include mosquito surveillance and monitoring, adult and larval control, and spraying for village special events.

Village Administrator Gerald Sagona receives notices from Clarke when local mosquito trap counts are high, and when the company plans to use its trucks fitted with gas sprayers to control adult mosquitoes.

So far, no news is good news.

“I haven’t received any updates so that tells me they’re not a significant problem, yet,” Sagona said.

McGowan said Clarke typically sprays the communities with the highest counts first. The company doesn’t decide which towns it’ll  conduct evening spraying in until 3 p.m. that afternoon.