Hurricane Hilary was something of a bust, producing far less rain and wind than predicted. But it turns out that our true reckoning with Hilary was delayed a bit: a huge spike in the mosquito population thanks to pools of water left behind by the storm. And it's one specific mosquito doing most of the damage:
Like a typical rising pop icon in L.A., it’s often referred to by its first name: Aedes. And it’s the Aedes — Aedes aegypti in particular — that’s really popping off right now....All was going well on the containment front until Hilary struck in late August...
Our native Culex mosquitoes apparently prefer birds to humans, so it's the Aedes variety that's most annoying. And annoying it is: Marian and I have both been covered with mosquito bites over the past month. Now I know why.
When will this all go away? Not until December, according to our local vector control boffins. Crap.
It's only the female mosquitoes that bite, they're tiny little brides of Dracula fluttering about invisibly in their gossamer nightgowns.
+1
It’s a potentially dangerous bug. It’s the vector of Yellow fever, dengue fever and Zika virus. Good idea to avoid as much as possible.
The West Nile virus has been killing squirrels & birds here in N. Virginia. My building is near a barely-running creek, & the infected animals are pitiful.
And it is more prevalent than any other in the continental US.
https://www.hhs.gov/climate-change-health-equity-environmental-justice/climate-change-health-equity/climate-health-outlook/west-nile/index.html
Southern California has a problem with annoying blood-suckers?
Who knew?
There was an article in the Washington Post regarding this just a couple of weeks ago:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/09/12/bug-zappers-mosquito-repellent/
Aw. Poor California babies. Do you want to know why the CDC is located in Atlanta? Their first mission was fighting malaria so they located where the mosquitos are. If you spend a couple of weeks in our hell, consider yourself lucky. And order yourself a spray bottle of Picaridin.
The impact of Hurricane Hillary depended on where you live in CA. I'm glad Irvine was spared, but Palm Springs (for example) was not.
Supposedly mosquitoes prefer O type blood, and specifically certain subtypes. We have three type Os in our household and plenty of mosquitoes, but the little kid and I get the most bites by far. Interestingly, the summer I was pregnant was the big Zika surge, and for whatever reason I wasn’t really bitten much that year.
The Aedes mosquito is an invasive species and a somewhat recent development in Southern California. These little black-and-white striped buggers are very aggressive and active throughout the entire day, rather than just at dusk. Five years ago I could relax in peace in my backyard in Pasadena, but now I get attacked relentlessly unless I use repellent.
As another poster mentioned, Picaridin-based repellent is the way to go. We use Sawyer, both spray and lotion.