2020 Mosquitos Forecast
Jump to:
Southeast Forecast – Northeast Forecast – Midwest Forecast – Northwest Forecast – Southwest Forecast
2020 Mosquitos Forecast
Still, climatic conditions can make some years worse for ticks than others. Ticks thrive in humidity, so a wet year can boost populations and increase the number of places they can live in. And warm winters and lingering summer heat add weeks of activity for the animals that ticks use as hosts, making them more likely to spread into the areas where humans live.
For 2020, forecasters predict that the warm-weather months in the US will be a bad time for anyone who wants to avoid ticks, with tick populations likely to be larger than usual, and weather conditions likely to put ticks in range of people for much longer than average. And while some regions, most notably the Southeast, may not see more tick activity than usual, most states will experience the warmer, wetter conditions that drive tick populations—and the prospect of tick borne diseases—skyward.
Where Do Mosquitos Live?
Part of the reason mosquitoes are so dangerous is that they thrive is warm temperatures. Their preferred temperature is anything above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, which means they can exist for some length on every continent in the world except for Antarctica. They primarily like to live in places that:
- Are warm throughout the year
- Have moist, tropical climates
- Have standing water
In these tropical climates, mosquitoes can live and reproduce all year. If the temperature drops below 50 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period of time, the mosquitoes become dormant until the cold spell is over or they die.
What To Expect from Mosquitos In 2020
The warmer and wetter it is, the more mosquitoes will be around. Looking back to late 2018, a long stretch of rain (3 to 12 inches over two weeks) in Michigan caused mosquito populations to triple or quadruple. More rain means more standing water, which means more mosquitoes. Similar bouts of rain are expected in 2020, which will no doubt lead to similar increases in mosquito populations.
These warmer and wetter conditions allow diseases that mosquitoes carry to be spread quicker and easier. Currently, different parts of the world are facing outbreaks of yellow fever, dengue, Zika and chikungunya, according to a Boston Children’s Hospital study. Many parts of the U.S. still don’t have substantial communities of the primary disease-carrying mosquitoes that exacerbate outbreaks and epidemics. However, researchers believe that by 2050, almost every section of the United States will have communities of mosquitoes at some point during the year.
Let’s look at the five primary regions of the country and how the predicted weather for 2020 will affect the mosquito populations in the area.
Want Immediate Assistance CTA
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
Mosquitos In the Southeast
The southeastern United States, which includes Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Tennessee, and more, is the wettest, warmest part of the country. It’s a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes because it’s warm most, if not all, of the year.
The Forecast for 2020
In 2020, it’s expected that these mosquito populations will be average or slightly above average. This is due to a wetter-than-normal outlook for the summer as well as temperatures that will be average or slightly above average, according to the National Weather Service.
Mosquito season will start around mid-February to early April, depending how far north your state is in the region. For example, South Florida’s mosquito season will have started in February while Tennessee’s mosquito season will start around the beginning of April once the temperatures are more consistently warm.
In the Southeast, mosquitoes may never become dormant, especially in Florida. However, if there are any stretches (a week or two) where the temperature drops below 50 at night, then mosquitoes will die down until the following year. This happens around mid-October or early November in this region.
Mosquito Season
Begins:
February-April
End:
Mid-October/Early November
Mosquito Forecast
slightly above average mosquito population
Weather Outlook
wetter than normal
Types of Mosquitos
Yellow Fever mosquito
Asian Tiger mosquito
Southern mosquito
Northern house mosquito
Mosquitos In the Southeast
The southeastern United States, which includes Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Tennessee, and more, is the wettest, warmest part of the country. It’s a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes because it’s warm most, if not all, of the year.
The Forecast for 2020
In 2020, it’s expected that these mosquito populations will be average or slightly above average. This is due to a wetter-than-normal outlook for the summer as well as temperatures that will be average or slightly above average, according to the National Weather Service.
Mosquito season will start around mid-February to early April, depending how far north your state is in the region. For example, South Florida’s mosquito season will have started in February while Tennessee’s mosquito season will start around the beginning of April once the temperatures are more consistently warm.
In the Southeast, mosquitoes may never become dormant, especially in Florida. However, if there are any stretches (a week or two) where the temperature drops below 50 at night, then mosquitoes will die down until the following year. This happens around mid-October or early November in this region.
Mosquito Season
Begins:
February-April
End:
Mid-October/Early November
Mosquito Forecast
slightly above average mosquito population
Weather Outlook
wetter than normal
Types of Mosquitos
Yellow Fever mosquito
Asian Tiger mosquito
Southern mosquito
Northern house mosquito
Want Immediate Assistance CTA
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
What Diseases Do Mosquitos Carry?
It bears repeating that mosquitoes are more than just nuisances that lead to itchy skin—they also carry deadly diseases.
The primary diseases they carry include:
Malaria
This is most deadly mosquito-borne disease. In 2015, there were hundreds of millions of cases of malaria reported, and nearly 500,000 deaths because of the disease. This makes up more than half of all deaths that come from mosquito-borne illnesses. The primary symptoms of malaria are a high fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting.
Yellow Fever
This disease is named after the yellow-ish hue it can cause in patients as a result of jaundice (a condition that affects the liver), which is a symptom of yellow fever. Other symptoms include headaches, fever, and fatigue. Yellow fever is a highly fatal disease if it’s contracted—half the people who get it die within a week to 10 days, according to the World Health Organization. However, it is preventable with a vaccination. It is currently most prevalent in Central America, South America, and Africa, and it causes between 30,000 and 60,000 deaths per year.
West Nile Virus
The West Nile virus can be largely asymptomatic, but 20 percent of people who get the disease develop symptoms such as a fever, diarrhea, a stiff neck and swollen lymph nodes, and muscle weakness. The virus can develop to the point where it starts to impact your central nervous system, too, which causes violent convulsions and paralysis. There were more than 2,500 West Nile cases reported in the United States in 2018, according to the CDC.
Zika
This disease is largely asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic. If it does show symptoms, they may appear in the form of a fever, skin rashes, headaches, joint pain, and more. However, Zika has proven to have more severe effects on pregnant women and led to babies being born with brain and head defects. Zika was at the center of a worldwide epidemic in the 2000s and 2010s in the Americas and Asia, during which it was expected that about 30,000 people were affected.
It should be noted that just because you are bit by a mosquito, it doesn’t mean you have been infected with a disease. Symptoms typically don’t show up for these disease until at least a couple days after you’ve been bit. If you plan on traveling to an area, like South America or East Africa, where rates of mosquito-borne diseases are higher than in America, there are preventative steps you can take to help reduce your risk of getting bit, which overall reduces your risk of getting a mosquito-borne disease.
Mosquito Prevention
Step 1: The Inspection
Step 2: The Protection Plan
Step 3: Ongoing Protection
How We Predict Mosquito Populations for 2020
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
H3 Header
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
H3 Header
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
THE BOTTOM LINE
The weather models showed how likely it was that precipitation totals and temperatures would be higher or lower than average during each month of the year. We took these weather models and compared them to where mosquitoes are present and are becoming more populous in each region of the country. Once we distilled, cross-referenced, and computed the data, we came to reasonable conclusions based on logic and general mosquito trends over time.