Nothing puts a downer on the lovely summer weather like a cloud of buzzing, biting mosquitoes. If you’ve noticed that there seem to be more mosquitos around than usual, you’d be right: experts are warning that Germany might be hit with a plague of the irritating insects this summer after the spring weather provided them with ideal reproduction conditions.

Mild, wet spring ideal for mosquito reproduction

There are more than 50 species of mosquitoes in Germany. For most of them, the weather in Germany over the past few weeks has created almost ideal conditions for mass reproduction. Mosquitos like it to be warm and wet, as the females generally choose to lay their eggs in bodies of still water such as ponds and lakes - or even puddles. Once laid, the eggs need temperatures of between 20 and 25 degrees to hatch.

Over the past few weeks we’ve had plenty of warm and wet weather in Germany, and with temperatures beginning to rise, experts are warning that the current situation, in principle at least, increases the likelihood of an increased number of mosquitoes this year.

More mosquitoes in Germany if warm weather continues

“The foundation for future generations is laid in the spring,” says Doreen Werner, a biologist and mosquito expert at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research. Under ideal conditions, a female mosquito can lay several batches of eggs - up to 300 each time - during her short lifespan. With the ideal conditions ensuring a large mosquito population this spring, it logically follows that there will be even more around come midsummer.

However, according to Werner, there are other factors that could impact this: the mosquito population will only flourish as long as the conditions remain ideal. Therefore, it has to stay warm and wet over the summer months. If it gets too hot, as it did during the long drought of summer 2018, this will also negatively impact the mosquito population.