Today's Question Blog

How do you keep mosquitos from spoiling your outdoor life?

Mosquito
Trapped mosquitoes at the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District lab in St. Paul. MPR Photo/Jennifer Simonson

"No doubt about it, the mosquitoes are bad this year after a very wet spring," writes MPR News reporter Sasha Aslanian.

But exactly how bad are they?

Every week, the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District sets traps and counts them. In the lab where scientists empty the traps, it seems the tables are turned on the mosquitoes.

Instead of swarming outside the mesh on tents, or dive-bombing people for a blood-meal, the mosquitoes are trapped in little mesh bags -- so many mosquitoes that the bags pulsate.

"What you're seeing in there is pretty much all mosquitoes," Mosquito Control entomologist Sandy Brogren said.

This week, the mosquito population is twice as high as the 10-year average. The prize for the biggest specimen bag goes to Eagan, Minn. It's one of 134 traps set across the metro area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLda8UYET14

Black columns of mosquitoes surrounded this home in Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota.

Today's Question: How do you keep mosquitos from spoiling your outdoor life?