Mosqitoes

Something the Bay Area has always had, but I rarely see here is mosquitoes. I know they need pools of standing water for the eggs to nest and hatch. I have been thinking about it and I think that despite the frequent rains we get here, we actually have fewer pools of standing water than the Bay Area gets. I have noticed we have extensive water drainage systems here. They are carved out everywhere in every neighborhood. For every set of streets there is a sort of 'back alley' where water is allowed to collect and disperse. There are at least two at my apartment complex and they work quite wrll. During heavy rains they fill up and look like rivers, carrying the water away from the buildings.

I believe there may be another factor at work here. Because of the abundance of rainfall, we get an equal abundance of trees grass, and foliage. These trees require lots of water, and the soil here is softer than places like the Bay Area. During one June, 2009, I had decided to do some weeding at my cousin's place where I was staying. The weeds pulked up quickly and effortlessly, and I was pulling them up, roots and all. The soil is such that the water would be able to penetrate easily and not stay above the ground. Also with all the hungry roots of trees, grasses, and so forth, any water making it below ground would not stay there for long.

So with all these factors, the extensive drainage systems, the soft soil, and abundance of trees and foliage, standing eater has little chance to develop here, or, I could be totally wrong. I have not seen any plethora of mosquitoes anywhere in the 2 years since I arrived from California. It does not even register in my mind that I need to have a screen over my open window to keep them out.