Here is an overview. Remember, there could be some variability within your local area. For example, if you’re near standing water, you are more likely to experience mosquito activity than if you’re standing in the middle of a large parking lot. Be sure to consider these variables in addition to our guidelines

• Low/Green. You're safe to go outside and enjoy the outdoors. Is it possible there might be a mosquito lurking about? Sure, but the odds are low and they’re probably not very active.
• Medium/Yellow. You don't have to be super concerned - yet. But the conditions are right for some mosquitoes to come out. If you are the cautious-type, then using some mosquito protection is a good idea.
• High/Orange. The mosquitoes are out and you will want to protect yourself. The weather is warm and wet enough for mosquitoes to become active and look for a yummy meal. Don’t be that meal - protect yourself.
• Very High/Red. Time to be even more careful because the prime conditions for mosquitoes have been in-place for several days – likely resulting in even more mosquito activity. Protect yourself before you go outside, and bring protection with you just in case you need to re-apply.
• Severe/Dark Red. Conditions have been perfect for (at least) the previous 14 days for mosquitoes to become active and breed, which means there are likely to be more of them. Be sure to protect yourself before you leave the house and remember to re-apply protection the longer you are outside; ideally every couple of hours.

Why was the mosquito sad on Christmas? It was a bah hum bug.

What do mosquitoes and relatives have in common? They both share your blood.

What is a mosquito's worst fear? The S.W.A.T Team.

Ah yes, we would have loved to include our friends in Alaska and Hawaii. We know mosquitoes bother you too. First, the good news…we’re working on it. You’ll soon be able to enter your Alaskan and Hawaiian location and get your local Mosquito Forecast. We’ll announce publicly when we’re ready. Bookmark this page and come back for updates.

Here’s why we’re not quite ready - Alaska and Hawaii are different than the lower 48 states. Aloha, Hawaii has a different mosquito species! (Yep! There are different mosquito species in different climates around the world.) Different mosquito species have (slightly) different lifecycles, mating habits, and even carry different diseases. We are taking the time to make sure our Mosquito Forecast is accurate for those mosquito species in Hawaii. For Alaska, our weather data is configured (slightly) differently than the lower 48. Again, that means it requires a (slightly) different calculation. We’re OBSESSED with accuracy. Our scientists are adjusting our mosquito calculations to bring you the best Alaska & Hawaii mosquito forecasts; stay tuned.

Well, there are so many…where to begin?  Here are a few to get you started:

• Mosquitoes are the deadliest animals on Earth.
• Mosquitoes have been around since the Triassic Period – 400 million years ago.
• They have been in North America since the Cretaceous Period – 100 million years ago.
• There are many different kinds of mosquitoes, about 2,700 species - 176 species in the United States alone.
• Mosquitoes don’t weigh much, but they have a heavy impact on our lives – the average mosquito weighs about 2.5 milligrams.
• As a mosquito bites you and sucks your blood, they can also leave you with a disease and saliva that you may react to (which causes the itchiness).
• On average a female mosquito takes in about 5-millionths of a liter of blood during feeding. Only the females bite, males do not bite.
• Mosquitoes see you. Yes, they find hosts by sight (they see movement) - by detecting infra-red radiation emitted by warm bodies, and by chemical signals.

Mosquitos are most active early in the morning and late at night, avoiding peak sunlight hours. This is because direct sunlight can be deadly for the bugs, overheating and dehydrating them. If you're planning on being outside during these peak mosquito hours, protect yourself and your family with OFF! Repellent before heading out.

The afternoon is often the best time of day to avoid mosquitoes, but for those heading to woods or wetlands , try and steer clear of shady areas where mosquitoes are likely to be resting as they avoid the sun.

We created an accurate forecast by combining three inputs; knowledge about a mosquito’s lifecycle, detailed climate data inputs, and mosquito population counts from over 5,000 locations provided by VectorBase. But that's not all.

To test the accuracy of the tool, our team validated our Mosquito Forecast by comparing it to 6 years of mosquito population data. That's 33 million data points. These results confirmed that our mosquito forecast predictions matched the reality on the ground.

To oversimplify, temperature and humidity are the primary inputs to create the mosquito forecast. However, it’s a little more complicated than that. For example, there needs to be enough consecutive days of warmer temperatures for mosquitoes to populate and become active. There are also days that are “too hot” when mosquitoes tend to lie low, and days that are “too cold” when mosquitoes are less active – kind of like a goldilocks effect. So we automatically adjust our algorithm for those days. There also needs to be sufficient humidity for mosquitoes to come to life. Pretty interesting, right!?! We ❤ learning about mosquitoes – especially how best to protect you and your loved ones from them.