Epi Week #34 - 2016 General Statements

West Nile Virus continues to dominate this mosquito season, with 137 WNV+ mosquito pools reported so far (though still below levels at this time in 2013). There are now 55 different municipalities in 7 different counties currently at a WNV risk of Moderate. Mosquito collections were lower this week than last week due to a large decrease in collections of both Culex pipiens/restuans and Coquillettidia perturbans.

Weather

Drought conditions continued to expand this week, with the area of Extreme Drought (red) expanding into Bristol County and most of Norfolk County, and the area of Moderate Drought (orange) expanding to cover all of Cape Cod.

As you can see from the map below, most of the state received some amount of rain this past week, mainly under 1.5” except for extreme eastern Hampden County. As of the submission of this report, Tropical Storm Hermine is set to become the 4th hurricane of the season, and its track shows it bringing some rain to our state. For the most up-to-date tropical cyclone info, including tracking forecasts (which update a minimum of 4 times a day, at 2 and 8 am/pm), see National Hurricane Center.