Few mosquitoes during hot and dry summer

So far, the dry summer has dampened the mosquito plague. But the season is not quite over for the bloodsucker yet.

– It’s not too late, says mosquito expert Anders Lindström.

At the beginning of the summer there were a lot of mosquitoes in the north – Jämtland, Norrbotten and Västerbotten. However, the mosquitoes have not made much of a fuss in the southern parts of the country.

– Then it can always be local, if there have been minor floods and such, says Anders Lindström, entomologist at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute.

The reason why there have been relatively few mosquitoes is the generally warm and dry weather in large parts of Sweden.

– The swamp mosquito, which is quite aggressive and likes to bite us, has been quite common in the middle of summer. But it does not come in the same quantities as the early summer mosquitoes do.

At the same time, the mosquito season can last into autumn. If it rains heavily and it gets wet in the forest and ground, the mosquitoes may be noticed locally, explains Anders Lindström.

– There is one called the reddish-brown autumn mosquito. It got its name from the fact that it can hatch late in the season and hang around long into the edge of autumn. You can often be bitten by it when you are out picking mushrooms and berries.