Mosquito numbers very low in Saskatoon

If you live in Saskatoon, there’s a good chance you won’t have to soak yourself in bug spray this summer.

Jeff Boone, the Saskatoon city entomologist, said crews just started their mosquito trapping program this week and numbers are very low. You can thank the lack of rain for that.

“We would really need a lot of successive rain to get a buildup of standing water that would be there long enough for the mosquitoes to complete their development,” said Boone.

He said mosquito numbers are driven by spring rain, of which Saskatoon hasn’t had much.

“We are in the latter part of May here and we haven’t seen much precipitation,” said Boone. “We’re well below our average, which generally leads to below-average numbers (of mosquitoes).”

As for the mosquitoes that carry the West Nile virus, Boone said they don’t usually peak around the August long weekend.