Epi Week #32 - 2016 General Statements

West Nile Virus continues to dominate this mosquito season, with 72 WNV+ mosquito pools reported so far. While this number is not out of the ordinary compared to previous years, it is noteworthy that as of right now, we have 53 different municipalities in 7 different counties currently at a WNV risk of Moderate. This is only one more town than we had in all of 2015, when 8 counties were impacted over the entire season. In general, mosquito collections were lower this week than last week.

Weather

Drought conditions expanded further this week, with Moderate Drought (orange) taking over more of Franklin and Hampshire County, and Extreme Drought (red) growing to reach into Suffolk, Norfolk, and Plymouth County as well as most of Essex County.

As you can see from the map below, there was scattered rainfall again this past week, with some areas in Berkshire County, southern Essex County, and the border of Franklin and Worcester County receiving close to two inches of precipitation. None of this is enough to alleviate drought conditions, though MDAR’s weather expert does note that the hurricane season is kicking up in the tropics, with one potential storm possibly making its way up the coast at the beginning of September.