A warm winter in NYC is great news for wildlife, especially those pesky ticks. With better conditions, are they poised for an open season in the spring?
To one expert, the winter’s severity is not a huge determining factor.
“I think it’s important that we think about tick season — every different tick has its own season,” said Dr. Thomas Mather, a professor of public health entomology and director of the TickEncounter Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island, to Advance/SILive.
Dr. Mather said it all comes down to the type of tick. Deer (blacklegged) ticks, for example, often live through winters to see the spring no matter what.
“Different ticks have different things that drive their population,” he explained. “In the case of blacklegged ticks, the transmitter of Lyme disease in particular that people mostly care about, what really determines the impact of that tick, which is transmission of disease germs and cases of disease — is really the nymphal stage, the middle stage that comes out in May.”
Mather instead said that dryness is what will do the ticks in. If numbers go down due to that, there are fewer encounters, fewer bites, and less lyme disease.
That being said, it’s never too early to start prepping for tick season (which peaks in May). Bug repellant, long sleeves and pants, and self inspections will help ward them off.
