Epi Week #28 - 2016 General Statements

Submissions were down by about 33% this past week, but still above what they have been in past years during Epi Week 28, even with continued drought conditions. For this past week, the bump is likely linked to DPH surveillance in Worcester County and the Boston/Brookline area that is bringing in large numbers of both Culex pipiens/restuans and Coquillettidia perturbans. Culiseta melanura levels continued to drop, with only 352 specimens submitted for testing. Most mosquito control projects/districts indicated that overall mosquito activity was down, with either Culex pipiens/restuans or Coquillettidia perturbans the predominant species.

Weather

Drought conditions have worsened across much of the state this again this past week, with a 13% increase in areas under Moderate Drought status (peach) attributed to an expansion into northern Bristol and Plymouth County. More than a quarter of the state remains in an elevated Severe Drought (orange) with rest categorized as Abnormally Dry (yellow).

Our weather expert at MDAR is predicting continued warm/hot temperatures with little rain outside of scattered thunderstorms, and this heat is expected to persist through early August.

As you can see from the Epi Week 28 map below, rainfall was scattered, most of the state received at least some rain, but very little of it was more than one inch. The precipitation deficit for the majority of the state is quite high, and there are no major rain events in sight.