Mild weather likely means more bugs

COEUR d’ALENE — A mild winter and early spring mean people will be swatting, brushing away and sometimes squashing pesky insects sooner this year, making for a longer season.

Entomologists, public health officials and people in the bug-control business say it’s too early to know if it will be a “bad year” for yellowjackets, mosquitoes, ticks and other insects that can sometimes make great weather less enjoyable. Weather this spring will have a lot to say about it.

A mild winter doesn’t by itself promise a big yellowjacket season, said Ed Bechinski, professor of entomology at the University of Idaho.

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