Mosquitoes are out in full force after the recent rain, according to City of Edmonton data.
A dry spring followed by wet weather in June and the start of July is leading to high trap counts across Edmonton.
“Once we have a big rainfall and eggs are activated, within a few weeks we start to see adult emergence,” said the City of Edmonton’s Sarah McPike. “Historically it’s been rainfall that determines when we see big waves of mosquitoes.”
Around 7,000 mosquitoes were found in city traps last week, data shows. This time last year, the city counted 2,500 mosquitoes.
“Those numbers are very low compared to historically in 2001 and 2011 when we could see sometimes 10 to 15,000 mosquitoes in one trap,” she said.
Chelsea Moriartey lives blocks away from Whitemud Creek Community Centre where trap counts are the highest in Edmonton.
Mosquitoes have been “pretty bad,” she said.
“We’ve been head to toe with mosquitos really.”
The next set of trap numbers will be released by the end of the week.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach