Mosquitoes at Christmas? Warmer, wetter weather extends skeeter season

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Talk about a holiday gift nobody wants.

Climate change and the warmer, weather wetter it's producing is extending mosquito season as late as December, an entomologist with the American Museum of Natural History tells Lee Goldberg in this "Weather or Not" extra edition.

"When we think about climate change, we're starting to see that fall actually kind of is blending into winter. And so we might find that people are still being bitten by mosquitoes even in December," said Dr. Jessica Ware.

This year is a textbook example of conditions that encourage the development of mosquitoes, with a series of hurricanes, floods, and generally wetter, humid, and warmer weather creating a hospitable environment for the pesky insects

"There's a real boon in mosquitoes these days, with all this water," Ware said. "In the Tri-State area, we have many different species. And some of them really thrive in the beginning of the summer, some in the middle, and some near the end of the summer."

Watch the video for Dr. Ware's full explanation of what's going on with mosquitoes, and what we can all do to help reduce their numbers.