Mild winter means an especially buggy spring

An invasive species from the South, harlequin bugs were unlikely to be killed by above-average temperatures in our region this year. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
An invasive species from the South, harlequin bugs were unlikely to be killed by above-average temperatures in our region this year. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
Multicolored Asian lady beetles that spent the winter in the attic will soon become active. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
Multicolored Asian lady beetles that spent the winter in the attic will soon become active. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
An early spring means mosquitoes will be active sooner and humans will be giving blood earlier than normal. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
An early spring means mosquitoes will be active sooner — and humans will be giving blood earlier than normal. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
Spiders such as this female wolf spider (with babies on her back) are important predators of many landscape and garden pests. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
Spiders such as this female wolf spider (with babies on her back) are important predators of many landscape and garden pests. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
With warm weather stink bugs will soon emerge. Temperatures must drop to single digits to kill stink bugs in unprotected locations outdoors.  (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
With the warm weather, stink bugs will soon emerge. Temperatures must drop to single digits to kill them in unprotected locations outdoors. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
The kudzu bug is a soybean pest that survives well in Maryland when winters are mild. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
The kudzu bug is a soybean pest that survives well in Maryland when winters are mild. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
When temperatures warm into the 60s, odorous house ants will invade homes in search of food. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
When temperatures warm into the 60s, odorous house ants will invade homes in search of food. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
Protected by antifreeze-like compounds in its blood, the emerald ash borer will not be killed unless temperatures drop well below zero. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
Protected by antifreeze-like compounds in its blood, the emerald ash borer will not be killed unless temperatures drop well below zero. (Courtesy Mike Raupp)
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An invasive species from the South, harlequin bugs were unlikely to be killed by above-average temperatures in our region this year. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
Multicolored Asian lady beetles that spent the winter in the attic will soon become active. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
An early spring means mosquitoes will be active sooner and humans will be giving blood earlier than normal. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
Spiders such as this female wolf spider (with babies on her back) are important predators of many landscape and garden pests. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
With warm weather stink bugs will soon emerge. Temperatures must drop to single digits to kill stink bugs in unprotected locations outdoors.  (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
The kudzu bug is a soybean pest that survives well in Maryland when winters are mild. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
When temperatures warm into the 60s, odorous house ants will invade homes in search of food. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)
Protected by antifreeze-like compounds in its blood, the emerald ash borer will not be killed unless temperatures drop well below zero. (Photo courtesy Mike Raupp)

WASHINGTON — Unseasonably warm weather continues to delight backyard chefs and schoolchildren eager to change from long pants to shorts.

But the mild winter weather is likely to come at a cost — more bugs this spring, arriving earlier than usual in the garden, yard and patio.

“Just like us, the bugs are simply loving this warm weather,” said Mike Raupp, professor of entomology at the University of Maryland.

Warm temperatures will mean better survival rates for bugs that are not cold-hearty, Raupp said.

One example is the kudzu bug, an invasive species from Asia that is pushing into Maryland and Virginia from the Deep South. The species is damaging to soybean crops.

It would take subfreezing temperatures to suppress the populations of kudzu bugs, harlequin bugs (which are a garden pest) and stink bugs.

“We’ve got to go down into single digits before we’re going to kill stink bugs that are overwintering in unprotected places outdoors,” Raupp said.

And as bug populations are expected to be larger this spring, the warm weather is likely to bring them out sooner. “This year, in the winter that wasn’t, we certainly are going to see insects become active much earlier,” Raupp said.

Although the region is in the dead of winter, there are patches of lawn already sporting ant hills — a far cry from frozen ground. “Ants are one of the things that really make the world go around, and as soon as it warms up, hey, they’re up and out of the ground. They’re out there foraging right now,” Raupp said.

February’s mild weather is providing a preview of spring, and it’s setting the stage for mosquito-swatting season.

“I would expect to see earlier mosquito activity than we do in the so-called normal year, so I think the biters are just around the corner, too,” Raupp said.

Dick Uliano

Whether anchoring the news inside the Glass-Enclosed Nerve Center or reporting from the scene in Maryland, Virginia or the District, Dick Uliano is always looking for the stories that really impact people's lives.

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