HOUSTON — It is so hot right now it’s tough for humans to spend extended periods of time outside. It turns out we are not alone. Our nemesis -- the mosquito -- also doesn’t like it when it gets this hot. This might be surprising because you always hear that the buzzing baddies just love heat and humidity. That is true to an extent. Once it gets above 95 degrees, they can no longer thrive. Meaning their numbers start to drop off.
It turns out Houston may be seeing fewer days filled with mosquitoes. The non-profit Climate Central looked at more than 200 cities in the U.S. to see how many days they had that were just right for the buzzing pests. That would be a day with an average relative humidity of 42% and higher and temps between 50 and 95 degrees. They found the number of so-called mosquito days in Houston is trending downward, dropping an average of 20 days in the last 43 years.
While that is true for other southern cities, the study found the rest of the country is seeing an increase in “mosquito days." Cities like San Francisco, California and State College, Pennsylvania had some of the biggest increases.
While some of these days could be attributed to rising temperatures, experts note other factors like rainfall and drought can influence the activity of these winged bloodsuckers.