PORTLAND, Ore. -- The next time you head outside, you may want to consider bringing along bug spray.
According to Multnomah Vector Control, it is shaping up to be one of the nastiest mosquito seasons in years.
Public health ecologist Bekah Sudia set out traps across Multnomah County to catch mosquitos. Inside those traps, she is finding about three times the number of mosquitoes that she would normally find this time of year.
"Usually around this time of the year I would get maybe 20 to 30, but now I'm seeing 80 to 100 so it's quit a big jump so far," she said.
Sudia said the combination of the mild winter and spring flooding we had is setting the stage for a nasty mosquito season.
“This is late June and I’m already seeing numbers I would see mid-July,” she said.
Sudia's job is to first collect the mosquitoes and then identify them.
The mosquitoes that are known to carry the West Nile Virus are then sent down to Oregon State University to be tested.
Sudia says so far there has never been a mosquito in Multnomah County that has tested positive for West Nile, although mosquitoes in both southern and eastern Oregon have.
According to Sudia, the most important thing people can do to protect themselves from mosquitoes is to remove any standing water from around their homes, wear long sleeves and pants, and put on bug spray.