Drought conditions across the state have abated as lower temperatures and rainfall have prevailed this spring - a far cry from this time last year when 94 percent of Arkansas was considered in drought.
But while farmers are raising their hands in jubilation about the moisture for their crops, others are raising their hands to swat away mosquitoes. The same rains that have helped ward off the arid conditions have created a red-light district for mosquitoes.
“Every year in Arkansas is a bad year for mosquitoes,” said John Hopkins, an associate professor of entomology at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “But this year, we’ll have more than our share.”
The pesky bloodsuckers are off to a slow start in reproducing because of cooler weather earlier and a late freeze this spring. However, mosquito populations will soon make up for lost time and will continue to rise over the summer. Without heat and dryness to curtail their numbers, Arkansans could see a bumper crop within two months, Hopkins said.
“They need rain and water sources to carry on,” he said. “It gives their population a start, and then they build on to bigger populations, which build on to even bigger populations.”
As of May 21, the latest report presented by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln showed four southwest Arkansas counties - Little River, Miller, Lafayette and Columbia - in “moderate drought,” while the rest of the southwestern quarter of Arkansas and a sliver of Northwest Arkansas still “abnormally dry.”
The National Drought Mitigation Center classifies drought conditions on the basis of rainfall, soil moisture, stream-flows and other data. Primarily, if an area has a deficiency of 2-3 inches of rain during a 30-day period, it’s considered in “moderate drought.” A deficit of 1-2 inches in an area means it is “abnormally dry.”
Brian Fuchs, a climatologist at the center, said 25.24 percent of Arkansas is either abnormally dry or in moderate drought.
The May 22, 2012, monitor showed 94.4 percent of the state in some level of drought, and the drought worsened during the summer.
By Aug. 7, 100 percent of the state was in a drought; and 53.26 percent was in an exceptional drought, which means the area had a rain deficit of more than 9 inches over a 30-day period.
“Mosquitoes typically hatch in wet situations,” Fuchs said. “It’s based on timing, temperature and ample standing water. Typically, a drought pushes those conditions down, and the number of mosquitoes diminish.”
Long-range drought forecasts show that conditions across the state will continue improving over the summer.
“It looks like there will be a lot of good opportunities for mosquito production,” he said.
Eastern Arkansas has always seen its share of mosquitoes, regardless of the dryness, because rice farmers irrigate fields yearly. This year, Fuchs said, mosquito numbers will increase.
In Stuttgart, known for its buzzing pests, Mosquito Control teams began spraying insecticides and larvicides last week.
The Arkansas County town is surrounded by rice fields. Inside the city limits, spraying keeps the mosquitoes at bay - usually, said Jim Bradshaw, a Stuttgart Street Department employee.
“It wasn’t too bad in the city limits last year,” Bradshaw said. “But I expect it to get worse. If it gets still, and they can get to breeding.”
He paused.
“If they didn’t have Mosquito Control in Stuttgart, we’d be in a heap of trouble,” he said. “I believe we have the most mosquitoes in the state, and probably in all the other nearby states, too.”
McCrory chooses to celebrate the bloodsuckers. The Chamber of Commerce holds a yearly Mosquito Fest in the Woodruff County town of 1,726 during the third week of May.
“We definitely have a lot of mosquitoes,” said chamber President Betty Kate Thompson.
The festival began 28 years ago. It was named when a group of people, brainstorming about a theme for the festival, began swatting mosquitoes, Thompson said.
“It’s not a crisis,” Thompson said of the pests, “But we don’t have a summer without mosquitoes.”
Hopkins urged people to watch for the collection of stagnant water around their homes. Tires, trash, clogged gutters, flower pots and old animal food bowls all can hold water and create breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
“Dry conditions, like last summer, are not conducive to breeding,” he said. “Check your properties for standing water and avoid the peak times of early morning and dusk when they are out the most.”
National Weather Service meteorologist Brian Smith of North Little Rock said long range forecasts for Arkansas predict average rainfall over the next three months. He said it could be warm this summer, but it won’t be as hot and dry as last year.
“Odds are in our favor it will be cooler this summer, and there will be more moisture,” he said. “That’s what mosquitoes need.”
Arkansas, Pages 15 on 05/26/2013