Why so many bugs?

Let's scratch the surface on this years pests. As my last post pointed out, we are going through the driest year since we started documenting it. The heat has obvious effects on your plants, sure. But there's some more bad news that isn't as obvious.

With higher temperatures, a lot of those bugs that drive you nuts are thriving, and here's some reasons why. Bugs like it hot. Most species of bugs reproduce faster with big-time heat. Grasshoppers and crickets seem harmless enough, but with the temperatures so high, they are breeding far quicker than in past years. This may not strike you as a big deal, but it is to farmers. They feed mostly on Tobacco, Alfalfa, and a lot of veggie crops. With their numbers as large as they are, that means they're eating more than usual. And that's just the start of the problem. The extremely mild winter we had last year had a few negative effects as well. Without a hard frost, a lot of bug populations survived the cold months, meaning there were more to start off the next season. Let's hope we get a colder winter this year, we're gunna need it!

Mosquitoes Also thrive in high temperatures. Around here it's not too big of a pain, because we don't have much sitting water, which mosquitoes require to reproduce. But if you go to Florida, for example, where it's humid AND hot, expect to get a few bumps. All it takes is 1/4 inch of water for them to do their business. This wouldn't be such a huge problem if it weren't for the fact that they, again, are carrying the West Nile Virus, and have already infected 47 humans this year, with one fatality.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2012-07-23/summer-bugs/56442572/1

Something to remember about this years bug problems is that a lot of bugs think if they can't find any water outside, then they'll come right in and chill out in YOUR house. This could be why a lot of you have noticed that there seems to be an ant parade going down your hallway. You can solve this by either watering your lawn, getting some residential use insecticides such as Raid or Ortho, or bug-bombing your house. If you decide to use any chemicals, make sure you read the labels. It may seem pretty self-explanatory, but some of these compounds can pack a dangerous punch. It is poison, and should be treated as such.

To sum it all up, higher temperatures = more bugs. There's not much we can do about that, other than pray for a freak snowstorm in August. Maybe you could do a rain dance or sacrifice your first born to Tlaloc. (I wouldn't recommend this option)

Thanks for reading!
-Roach