'Last Year Was One Of The Worst' | Maryland Department Of Agriculture Preparing For Mosquito Season After 2018 Outbreak

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It's summertime, and it's open season on us.

First mosquito bites, then the scratching females that made it through winter need blood to nourish their eggs, which will rapidly turn into larvae in water.

According to Brian Prendergast with the Maryland Department of Agriculture when there's a lot of water, like in 2018, there's a lot of mosquitoes.

"Last year was one of the worst seasons on record, and that's been told to me by people who've been working here for 30 years," Prendergast said. "They'd never seen anything like it."

This year, there hasn't been nearly as much rain. At least not yet.

"This year we're expecting things to be fairly normal," Prendergast said. "It seems to be fairly normal so far."

Department of Agriculture crews have begun spraying. Last year there were so many mosquitoes that crews couldn't keep up, and it took aerial spraying to combat an explosion of salt marsh mosquitoes.

That's not an issue so far this year, but stagnant water closer to home is. A backyard breeding ground, where the best defense is frequent dumping of containers that hold water.

Even small containers can be a nursery for the next generation of mosquitoes. A little prevention could ward off the most aggressive mosquito species.

"The Asian Tiger Mosquito is the worst nuisance pest in the state of Maryland, and breeds in containers that are in people's yards," Prendergast said. "Anything that will hold rainwater."

Unlike other species, Asian Tigers bite during the day, not when spray rigs are usually operating.