Epi Week #37 - 2016 General Statements

The season continued to quiet down during Epi Week 37, with another drop in number of mosquitoes submitted for arbovirus testing. While there were no changes to DPH’s WNV or EEEv risk levels, a third human case of WNV was reported. Note that even with the decrease in mosquito pools submitted, the percentage of WNV in those pools increased to 9%, a further indication that the virus is prevalent in mosquito populations this season. The last date to submit mosquitoes for testing is October 6th.

Weather

Drought conditions did not change over the past week, which unfortunately means that more than 50% of the state is still in Extreme Drought (red), and nearly the entire state at a minimum of Moderate Drought (peach). At this point, for long-term drought relief, we would need several days of a slow steady soaking rain. The tropics remain active (we’re up to “L” on the alphabet of storm naming), but any recently formed systems are predicted to not impact us as they go out to sea.

Epi Week 37 brought very little rain, with just a few of the weather stations that we track for this map even receiving more than a third of an inch of precipitation.