Southern California’s moody, wet weather has created ideal conditions for mosquitoes, leading to an early scourge of the annoying pests.
“We are seeing five times as many mosquitoes at this time of year compared to the five-year average,” Brian Brannon, an inspector with the Orange County Vector Control, told CBS News. “There’s a lot of mosquito breeding going on right now.”
Mosquitoes can mature in as little as a week, and they only need a few drops of water to start reproducing.
“A bottle cap of water can breed up to 100 mosquitoes,” another inspector, Danny Bui, told the network.
Stagnant water provides the perfect incubator, particularly in plant saucers, buckets and flower containers that don’t fully drain, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Mosquitoes rely on standing water to breed, with larvae developing in just five to seven days. Ideal conditions include temperatures above 50 degrees, high humidity and, for some species, the presence of organic material in the water. Common breeding sites include birdbaths, gutters, containers and tires.
Southern California has experienced significant temperature fluctuations in the last two weeks of February, shifting from cooler, shifting weather to intense, summer-like heat — a pattern experts call “feast or famine.”
Brannon warned that the problem is likely to worsen as summer approaches.
“This is terrible news going into summer,” he said. “The more that are out there now, exponentially, there’s going to be that many more later. We really have to focus and get rid of that water wherever we can.”
Mosquitoes hatch in water before emerging as adults, and the cycle can take as little as 4 days or up to a month, depending on conditions.
Only female mosquitoes bite to feed on blood, then lay eggs near water.
Pest control inspectors have warned residents to empty or drain any stagnant water weekly to help break the mosquito breeding cycle.
