Epi Week #26 - 2014 General Statements | Central Mass Mosquito Control Project

Mosquito control projects/districts and the state laboratory continue to monitor for both West Nile Virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEEv), but arbovirus still has yet to be detected this season. Based on data from previous years and because of last summer’s WNV and EEEv activity, we can anticipate the first mosquito pool detections soon.

While temperatures have certainly ramped up over the past couple of weeks, precipitation remains below normal for much for the state, and that’s typically good news for us and bad news for mosquitoes.

MCDs/MCPs continued larviciding of catch basins to combat increasing populations of Culex spp. Several also reported ULV application of adulticides, either for individual resident requests or wide-area spraying.

The most abundant species of mosquitoes so far this season have been Culex spp., Ochlerotatus canadensis, and Culiseta melanura. Bristol County reported eight more Aedes albopictus (Asian Tiger Mosquito) collected this week.

Weather

After an extremely dry Epi Week 25, rainfall levels were back up in some parts of the state, particularly in the western region, with Pittsfield seeing 4 inches of rain following heavy storms that hit Berkshire County. Temperatures throughout the state for this Epi Week averaged close to normal. Looking back at June 2014, with a few exceptions in Berkshire County (Westfield, North Adams), most of the state had less precipitation than normal. (Note: The GIS precipitation map was not available this week.)

The MDAR meteorological expert is keeping a close eye on a tropical depression that could threaten the New England coast during July 4th weekend. Temperatures should remain above normal.