It was buzzing around by the window until I smashed it. I know this isn't big news for most in North America, especially those in the southern states and Florida. But it is here, in Albuquerque. Why?
Because I live at 6500 feet and it is January.
Contrary to popular belief, we have four distinct seasons in New Mexico, and, at this time of year it should be much colder than it is. We've been experiencing very high temperatures for January.
Intead of being bundled up in heavy coats and scarves, I've seen many outside in shorts and short sleeves.
We do have mosquitos in Albuquerque but only during the warm and hot months and they are mostly around the Rio Grande River. Once you venture away from the River it is rare to run into a mosquito. If you do, it is because they are breeding in small, stagnant pools of water in someone's backyard.
Having any mosquitos around in January is unheard of. And at the elevation I live it is alarming.
Mosquitos bring a variety of diseases to areas that don't normally have them.
Many mosquito-borne diseases are known to be sensitive to climatic conditions, including increased temperature, among other factors. Now there are indications that climate variability, not just higher temperatures, can also contribute to increased disease. While other factors come into play, West Nile virus outbreaks have been related to a combination of heat and drought followed by heavy downpours. And that kind of weather pattern, according to The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is likely to occur more often with global warming.
We certainly have the drought part of the mosquito-invasion-recipe but we don't have the heat (unless 50 degrees is considered heat) and we most probably won't be getting any heavy downpours for months. We are a high desert so this live mosquito at 6500 feet is curious alarming.
Maybe, they are following the birds who are Wintering here.
I never thought, in my lifetime, I would witness direct evidence of Global Warming. It was always going to be somewhere else, happening to someone else. Not here. At 6500 feet in January. The last two weeks of warm weather in Albuquerque have made it all too real for me. In my backyard I see evidence of it as I write. My Apricot tree is forming buds. I have been sneezing for the past week. Occasionally I see a dead snake on the roadway; the carcass from one that came out too early and tried to get across the street. And, now, the live mosquito in my car.
It would be nice to be oblivious to global warming and enjoy this warm weather. But that's not me. I know that 50+ degree weather in Albuquerque means a very warm Summer. A very warm Summer means that, unless we get some rain, our water supplies will dwindle, the animals in the Sandia Mountains will run out of food and water and our crops will be affected.
Global warming in the high desert.