Alaska weather creates mecca for mosquitoes

A winter that left a thick blanket of snow on the ground, followed by a wet spring, created ideal conditions for thick clouds of mosquitoes and other insects that are plaguing Alaska residents.

“I think they’re awful,” said Ila Christianson, who works at a tourist information center in Anchorage. At one local lake, she added, “you couldn’t even see in front of you, they were so thick.”

Residents in the recent past became accustomed to more mosquito-free summers because there was little snow to insulate over-wintering insects, said Fred Sorensen, pest management coordinator at the University of Alaska.

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“Winter survival was really good because there was snow cover,” Sorensen said.

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Sorensen also reminded complainers that the mosquitoes benefit creatures higher on the food chain.

“All those salmon fishermen out there and the trout fishermen need to recognize that this is a good thing” since fish feed on insects, he said.