The city will begin fogging for mosquitoes in 14 insect management areas Saturday night, weather permitting. (CBC – image credit)
The City of Winnipeg plans to begin fogging for adult mosquitoes Saturday night, with a number of areas in the south among the first to be targeted following heavy rains.
“Some areas of the city received over 100 millimetres of rain, and that amount of rain in a short period of time is challenging,” David Wade, the supervisor of the city’s insect control branch, said at a news conference Friday.
“We get new hatches of our main nuisance mosquito. Every time it rains and the soil gets saturated … we get a new generation of that species.”
Fogging is scheduled to begin at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, starting with 14 insect management areas:
No. 13: Alpine Place, Elm Park, Lavalee, St. George, Varennes, Worthington.
No. 14: Kingston Crescent, Minnetonka, Norberry, Pulberry, Victoria Crescent.
No. 17: Dakota Crossing, Meadowood.
No. 18: Maple Grove Park, Normand Park, River Park South, St. Vital Centre, Vista.
No. 21: Agassiz, Cloutier Drive, Fort Richmond, Montcalm, University.
No. 23: Tuxedo Industrial, West Perimeter South, Whyte Ridge, Wilkes South.
No. 24: Brockville, Buffalo, Chevrier, Linden Ridge, Lindenwoods, Pembina Strip, West Fort Garry Industrial.
No. 25: Beaumont, Crescent Park, Maybank, Parker, Point Road, Wildwood.
No. 26: Betsworth, Ridgewood South, River West Park, Roblin Park, Southboine, Westdale.
No. 27: Elmhurst, Eric Coy, Marlton, Ridgedale, Varsity View, Vialoux.
No. 28: Assiniboine Park.
No. 29: Edgeland, Old Tuxedo, South Tuxedo, Tuxedo.
No. 30: Central River Heights, J.B. Mitchell, Mathers, Sir John Franklin, South River Heights.
No. 31: Crescentwood, North River Heights, Wellington Crescent.
The city selected those areas to start fogging because they have recorded among the highest mosquito trap counts recently, Wade said.
“It’ll take us four or five nights to do the whole city,” he said.
Residents can find their management area by searching an address or consulting the city’s online map.
A map shows the insect management areas where Winnipeg will begin fogging this weekend. (CBC)
City crews had already begun work to control the mosquito population by targeting the insects during the aquatic larval stage starting in early May.
Fogging is not done every year — the city last fogged for mosquitoes in 2024. But the conditions to start fogging were met in the past 24 hours, Wade said.
Some of that criteria includes the citywide average trap count containing at least 25 female mosquitoes for two consecutive nights. Another requirement is that at least one quadrant of the city reporting at least 100 female adult mosquitoes, a city news release said.
The adulticiding factor analysis— the measure Winnipeg uses to determine whether to fog and kill adult mosquitoes — moved from medium to high, Wade said. The change comes after Winnipeg reached a citywide mosquito trap count of 84.
The work will be done using equipment mounted on trucks that will be driven up and down streets from 9:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.
The fogging will be postponed if there are strong winds or cooler temperatures.Residents can apply for a buffer zone of 90 metres around a property.