Are Mosquitoes Out of Control in Mid Michigan? It’s Not Your Imagination!

Does it seem like you're constantly slapping yourself and waving your hands around your head, fighting off mosquitoes? It's not your imagination -- the mosquito population in Mid-Michigan is extremely high right now, thanks to the recent wet weather.

"This is one of our higher years for mosquitoes," Linda Vail, Ingham County's health officer, tells the Lansing State Journal. "We've had a lot of wet weather."

You may not have noticed, but the spring mosquito population was rather low thanks to a relatively dry April and May. There's only one generation per year of spring mosquitoes, produced from eggs that lie dormant through the fall and winter.

But summer mosquitoes are produced by multiple generations, and conditions have been favorable this year, thanks to heavy rains.

But there may be some good news. Howard Russell, an entomologist for Michigan State University's Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences Department, says this peak pest season will likely only last another 10 days to two weeks, depending on the weather.

"There are a few species that we have that produce a generation every seven days or so if it stays above 80 (degrees)," he says. "So they're really bad now."

About 60 different species of mosquitoes call Michigan home.