Winnipeg’s mosquito situation is going to be ‘really bad’ this summer, expert predicts

Winnipeg’s in for a pesky, itchy summer as far as mosquitoes are concerned.

That’s according to an expert on all things pest control, who is seeing the weather signs beginning to line up – and it’s not looking good.

“This spring, we’ve had an excessive amount of rain, a lot of wet areas and now if the weather gets to be higher, warmer temperatures, I do think mosquito problems are going to be really bad in the city of Winnipeg,” said Lincoln Poulin, president of Poulin’s Pest Control.

In Winnipeg, it’s been a rainy few weeks, with more precipitation on the way for the foreseeable future.

“When we have these sudden showers, it’s nice in the morning, there’s a bit of rain for an hour then it gets even warmer and the humidity goes up, high temperatures, that’s when we see mosquitoes get to be really bad,” Poulin said.

And it will be worse in certain areas.

“So downtown where it’s more concrete, yes, there’s going to be some wells, there’s gonna be some potted plants that are gonna breed mosquitoes,” he said. “But it’s not going to be as bad if you were in neighbourhoods where it is just trees, standing water, swampy land. That’s where the mosquitoes are gonna be the worst.”

Poulin says if you’re really looking to reduce the number of mosquitoes around you, eliminate standing water.

And what to do if you’ve been bitten and you’ve got the itch?

Poulin has definitely heard of a few “natural” remedies. Now whether he recommends them is something different altogether.

“Everyone’s got their own ideas of what may work for them,” he said. “We’ve heard some of these, we’ve tried them. I won’t be recommending coffee grinds or, you know, people are trying with garlic. We’ve tried the different sprays and it doesn’t work as well.”