KTRE.com Lufkin and Nacogdoches |Cold Weather Brings Some Relief From Pesky Critters

Cold Weather Brings Some Relief From Pesky Critters

by Alex Carias

Cold weather has put a blanket across much of East Texas. Temperatures are expected to dip down below freezing. Although some people may find the chilly conditions uncomfortable, the cold weather actually does have some benefits that we may not realize until the Spring.

"The cold weather from people's perspective knocks back some of the obnoxious insects like fire ants and mosquitos that we don't like to deal with, fleas maybe, some of the other things like that," explained bug specialist Joe Pase.

But even though the temps will drop below freezing overnight for the next few days, Pase says many of those insects will manage to survive.

"For the insects, no. We would probably have to get down in the upper teens for several hours. 4,5,6 hours, not just a couple hours in the early morning. It needs to stay below freezing a couple days, which happens here occasionally, to have a significant impact on the insect," added Pase.

The good news is, the current temperatures do slow insect production down, but unfortunately, they do not kill them. Pase says insects are able to burrow several inches into the ground, which is why a deep, hard freeze over a course of a few days is needed. And that's something that's not often seen here in East Texas.

"We've had the mix of warm days and cold days scattered through this winter, which is typical. We get warm days here in January and February, so I expect it to happen again this year," said Pase.

And Pase says, unless that hard freeze does come, expect more pesky critters, this Spring.