CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. () – We expect sand gnats in the air this time of year, but due to temperatures and recent weather events they appear to be very active this season.

spoke to Chatham County Mosquito Control Director Ture Carlson, and he said recent weather events could also be the blame. It creates more mud, which allows the biting insects to thrive.

“So, we were in March and into the middle of March and early March, there was a little bit of rain,” Carlson said. “Some of that snow melt was still kind of keeping the ground fairly moist and the trees hadn’t woken up that year to kind of drink the water. So, there’s been a lot of mud available.”

Luckily, their chemicals to target mosquitoes are also knocking off the gnat population in the process.

“If we start to get into the mid-eighties, the gnats will start squeezing themselves closer to sunset, more like mosquitoes,” Carlson said. “So, we’ll have a bigger impact on the gnats as the days kind of warm up a little bit here. Overall, that’s refill an area very quick and they’re not kind of like they’re not mosquitoes in that sense.”

Carlson said keeping track of disease transmitting mosquitos is crucial. For gnats, it’s a different story.

“Currently, we do not worry about gnats transmitting disease to people, so they are really just a nuisance problem right now in the United States and some places worse than others,” he said.

As the weather continues to warm, biting insects will be out. Carlson said right now most mosquitos are west of I-95 and gnats are more so near the marshes.

He gave a helpful tip to help you through the season.

“The biggest thing, one of the easiest ways that works for mosquitoes and gnats is creating a wind current using a fan,” Carlson said. “Mosquitoes and gnats are weak fliers. So, if you can create a little wind current, you can kind of keep them off of you. You notice on breezy days, you see less biting insects.”

The bulk of mosquito season starts in May and typically ends in November.