First an update on the Rib Mountain Snowmelt contest. The snow seems to be going pretty quick. There is a lot less snow on the mountain than I would expect at this point in May, considering how cool it has been this Spring. Still, I suspect it will be sometime in June before we finally see all the snow melt. I predicted June 13th. Some of our other “celebrity” predictions:

• Tony Schumacher: June 3rd
• Rob Duns: June 19th
• Christy (Big Cheese 107.9):  June 3rd
• Trav (Big Cheese 107.9): June 21st
• Eric (Mix 96.7): June 8th
• Cami Mountain: June 7th
• Alex Haight: June 20th

Most of the elligible entries this year have clustered around the first and second week of June.

One prediction I am more confident in making this year is that there will be A LOT more bugs and mosquitoes if the above normal precipitation continues into the Summer. There will be an extraordinary amount of complaining as well because most people have become spoiled be the 7 years of dry weather we had from 2003 to 2009. During those years mosquitoes were hard to find. Even last year was not all that bad by historical standards. However, because we had favorable breeding conditions for flying annoying insects last year, this year’s crop could be much larger. If the wet weather continues, no doubt we will hear a lot of scare stories about the substantially non-lethal West Nile Virus.

So how can we protect ourselves outside? Hope for some dry weather? Use DEET (the most effective repellent available)? Perhaps a new repellent could be making its way to store shelves soon. Researchers at Vanderbilt University have discovered a new compound that is theoretically 1,000 times more powerful/effective than DEET. In describing how the repellent works, the researchers likened to walking into a crowded elevator when someone is wearing an over-powering perfume – a smell so strong that you can’t wait to get out of there. This new repellent would be 1,000 times more annoying to mosquitoes than the perfume in that elevator would be to a person. No word on when it might become available as a commercial product. It will likely have to go through years of safety tests.

Have a pleasant Wednesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew

Posted under Nature, Snowmelt 2011