Winnipeg begins spraying for mosquitoes this weekend
Posted July 3, 2026 4:35 pm.
If you’ve had your picnic ruined by a swarm of mosquitoes lately, you definitely aren’t alone. The pesky blood suckers have been out in full force so far this summer, and the city says that after an increase in trap counts, spraying will begin across Winnipeg starting Saturday night.
The city says the average trap count is 84 right now, higher than last year at this time, and attributes it to the heavy rainfall.
“It makes it challenging because we get new hatches of our main nuisance mosquito, Edes vixens, anytime it rains, and the soil gets flooded, the eggs will hatch, and we get a new generation of that species,” said David Wade, the superintendent of insect control for the City of Winnipeg.
Wade says a fleet of fogging trucks will hit the streets beginning at 9:30 p.m. Saturday; the city has been broken up into 14 insect management areas, beginning with the most heavily populated south side over the next four to five days.
“All the IMA’s around Charleswood, which had the highest trap count today, just below 500, areas around Assiniboine Park, St. Vital Park, King’s Park, those are the areas that we’re targeting on the first night,” said Wade.
One Winnipegger CityNews spoke to said, “I’m so happy; they’ve been so bad. We tried to have a picnic, and it failed.”
Another said, “You just have itches all over your body, like right now I’m just itching my leg, and you have to just constantly watch them to see when they’re going to bite you or to get them off your body.”
While a third said, “Over a good hundred probably … I work outdoors, so they’ve been coming at me all day, so I going to just shut it off and let them do their thing.”
In addition to the fogging program, homeowners can also do their part by clearing standing water whenever possible.
“A container or a wheelbarrow, or even just low-lying areas in their property, that will reduce the amount of mosquitoes that will develop, and keeping the humidity down on your property will also make it less favourable for mosquitoes to rest in your yard,” said Wade.
