'I've never seen anything like it': Mosquito counts climbing in Winnipeg

As the month of June rolls on, more and more mosquitos are buzzing around Winnipeg.

According to the city’s website, average trap counts are hovering around 15, and crews are working hard to prevent them from rising higher.

They are spraying open places with water before mosquitoes grow too big and say they have their work cut out for them this year.

“This is my fifth season working for the city, and this is the wettest year so far,” Alex Paul, a City of Winnipeg worker, told CTV News. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

According to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Winnipeg received 114mm of rain last month, about twice the amount it would typically see in May.

“This ranks the month of May at about the 17th wettest over 152 years of data,” ECCC meteorologist Natalie Hasell said. “So we’re not in the top 10, but we are in the top 20.”

Hasell added June has also seen its fair share of rainfall – and that’s bad news for the bug battle.

“Every time we get a significant rainfall event, it floods more eggs… and more eggs hatch,” said David Wade from the city’s insect control branch.

Wade said the department will continue working to keep mosquitoes in their larval stage before the pests have a chance to emerge.

“We have about ten days to treat these ones before they turn into adult mosquitoes,” Alex Paul said.