\u201cIn Canada, we\u2019re pretty doomed no matter what,\u201d Avramov said. \u201cWe\u2019re always going to have a pretty solid amount of mosquitoes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Environment Canada<\/a> is forecasting that temperatures in Ottawa will hover around the high-20s C during the day and drop to around 15 C at night, ushering in perfect conditions for mosquitoes to buzz to life.<\/p>\n Mosquitoes thrive in standing water, and the early-season bugs buzzing around emerge from the water pools produced by melting snow, added Robert Anderson, a research scientist at the Canadian Museum of Nature.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are mosquito eggs that are laid around the edges of these ponds, and they\u2019ll start to hatch,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cAnd then you\u2019ll get the larvae of those mosquitoes feeding in the ponds, and then they will come out, and that\u2019s usually your first group of mosquitoes.\u201d<\/p>\n How has a cool spring made a difference?<\/p>\n While we\u2019ve had some warm days this spring, the challenge for mosquitoes is that temperatures continued to drop below 7 C at night, said Avramov, who is also affiliated with Public Health Canada and Agriculture and Agri Food Canada.<\/p>\n Given how mosquitoes rely on consistent temperatures to survive, the cooler weather has left them emerging from bug hibernation fairly lethargic, delaying the start of the breeding process.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it\u2019s really warm during the day, but then it drops down quite a bit at night, which is what we\u2019re seeing so far, what happens is the developmental process for the mosquitoes slows down and we don\u2019t see this typical explosion of activity,\u201d Avramov said.<\/p>\n However, Avramov says he\u2019s started to notice more mosquitoes buzzing around his yard and \u201cbiting pretty heavily\u201d in the past few days, indicating we might be getting into \u201cthe peak of the valley.\u201d<\/p>\n There are more than 80 species of mosquitoes in Canada, and around 40 of those can be found in the Ottawa Valley, says Marc Avramov, a PhD candidate in Carleton University\u2019s biology department.<\/p>\n How long will mosquito season last?<\/p>\n There are more than 80 species of mosquitoes in Canada, and around 40 of those can be found in the Ottawa Valley, Avramov says. Each species has its own biology and ecology, developing its own preference for different times of the year.<\/p>\n Some of the adult insects will \u201cdiapause,\u201d or hibernate, during the winter, and those are the bugs that will start the mosquito season each spring, once it becomes warm enough. It often doesn\u2019t take a lot of water for the life cycle to begin.<\/p>\n \u201cThe peak abundance numbers that we see are in mid to late-June, especially in the Ottawa Valley,\u201d Avramov said.<\/p>\n With summer temperatures now mostly here to stay, he says we can expect a \u201chard start \u2026 on the typical kind of experience we have here as Ottawans.\u201d<\/p>\n Different species of mosquitoes will begin buzzing to life as conditions change throughout the summer, before mosquito season starts to wrap up at the end of July, Avramov said. Night-time temperatures and the amount of rainfall also dictate how long the season lasts.<\/p>\n What about other biting bugs?<\/p>\n Mosquitoes aren\u2019t the only bugs looking for blood.<\/p>\n While standing water is the best breeding ground for mosquitoes, Anderson says faster-flowing water gives rise to black flies as the larvae attach themselves to rocks and filter out algae in the stream.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re sort of a more predictable thing later in the season, usually because those little streams are more consistent from year to year,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n Deer and horse flies tend to breed in the mud from wetlands, swamps or damp woodlands, meaning they also rely on many of the same wet conditions as mosquitoes to continue the life cycle.<\/p>\n Ticks, though not considered insects since they have eight legs instead of six, are another prevalent bug to keep your eyes on this summer. These critters thrive in wooded areas and tall grasses and can carry a variety of diseases, including Lyme disease.<\/p>\n Over the past decade, Anderson said, there\u2019s been a noticeable rise in public awareness about ticks and the diseases they can carry.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are much, much more concerned and looking for ticks now, and that seems to result in more being found,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n How can people protect themselves?<\/p>\n If you\u2019re hoping to host outdoor barbecues and don\u2019t plan to include biting insects on the guest list, the first thing you can do is regularly replace or remove stagnant pools of water on your property.<\/p>\n This can include bird baths, flowerpot saucers, swimming pool covers and unmaintained parts of your lawn, where water may be pooling.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t maintain your lawn properly, there can be longer stretches of humid soil and \u2026 that\u2019s good enough for mosquitoes to lay their eggs, and, if it\u2019s wet enough, they\u2019ll hatch,\u201d Avramov said.<\/p>\n When going outside during the summer, experts suggest people remain vigilant to protect themselves from bites, especially considering the risks associated with mosquito-borne diseases<\/a>.<\/p>\n While shady areas offer an escape from the sun on hot days, Anderson says mosquitoes have the same idea.<\/p>\n \u201cThey like the shady areas, and they generally won\u2019t come out into the sunny areas as commonly as they might do if it was a little more shaded and a little cool,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Experts also recommend wearing long-sleeved clothing whenever possible. Insect repellent can also be effective as it can mask the scents your body gives off, which mosquitoes tend to home in on.<\/p>\n What are the City of Ottawa and Ottawa Public Health doing?<\/p>\n Ottawa Public Health said in a statement to the Ottawa Citizen that it was continuing its control plan this summer to detect if mosquitoes in the area were carrying West Nile virus or Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEEV).<\/p>\n \u201cThe program is targeted and evidence-based, with larvicides applied only when mosquito larvae surveillance confirms the presence of species known to transmit West Nile Virus, rather than for general nuisance mosquito control,\u201d a spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n The Kanata North Nuisance Mosquito Control Program will also continue this summer, injecting larvicide into the Carp River to attack mosquito larvae before they grow into adults. The City of Ottawa-led program charges Kanata North homeowners about $20 each annually to cover the $1.85-million price tag.<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark our homepage<\/a> and sign up for our newsletters<\/a>\u00a0so we can keep you informed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As warmer summer temperatures are finally expected to settle in after a cool spring in Ottawa, outdoor patios…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75841,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[30328,30326,7189,30324,29956,30327,61,30329,30323,30325],"class_list":["post-75840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-avramov","tag-biting-insects","tag-canadian-museum-of-nature","tag-marc-avramov","tag-mosquito-season","tag-mosquitoes","tag-ottawa","tag-public-health-canada","tag-robert-anderson","tag-summer-temperatures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75840","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75840"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75840\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75841"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75840"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75840"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75840"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dfd57052a585d188838d3a1f112fb694.jpeg\"\/)
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