Arkansans aren't the only ones enjoying the unseasonably high temperatures over the past week.
Mosquitoes are also reveling in the warmth, causing residents to swat at the pesky pests earlier than ever and city officials to consider spraying for them weeks before they normally do.
"It's unprecedented," said Daniel Massingale, director of Stuttgart's mosquito-control program. "That's the best way I can sum it up. They are coming out the earliest I've seen in 20 years."
Massingale said he normally begins spraying in the Arkansas County town of 9,200 in mid-April. This year, because of the mild winter, he anticipates he'll begin his battle against the mosquitoes in early March.
Arkansas has seen a warm winter, meteorologists at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock say.
On Saturday, Little Rock's high temperature of 79 degrees broke the record of 78 degrees set in 1922. Harrison shattered its high mark of 76 set in 1928 when the mercury climbed to 84 degrees Saturday.
Fayetteville and Fort Smith also set records for high temperatures.
"Trees are blooming," said Joe Goudsward, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in North Little Rock. "It's spring already. It's very early. Normally, we see this in late March."
Mosquitoes "over-winter," or hibernate during cold spells, hiding under leaves, in cracks and crevices around homes, inside garages and among litter and debris, said Tonja McKay, director of environmental sciences at Arkansas State University-Jonesboro.
"They go into hiding when it's cold," she said. "Any type of micro-climate that veers from the normal causes them to become active.
"They're sitting in wait."
McKay said mosquitoes need at least five consecutive days of warm weather to develop from eggs to larvae.
Jonesboro saw temperatures rise to the upper 70s last week and again Saturday.
"It got those guys active," she said of the mosquitoes. "I killed two inside my home."
Lake City Mayor Jon Milligan said he hasn't seen too many mosquitoes in his eastern Craighead County town yet. However, the warmer weather does concern him a bit. His town is perched along the St. Francis River and just north of the St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Area, an area of swampy lowlands where mosquitoes flourish in the summer.
"They'll pick up and carry you to the next county," Milligan said.
The mayor said he expects to begin spraying in about six weeks, but he'll start earlier if the mosquito population grows.
"We'll keep hammering them," he said.
Mosquito Joe, a mosquito eradication company based in Fayetteville, has already received scores of calls from homeowners across much of the state wanting their yards treated.
Owner Stephanie Simon said she usually begins receiving calls in late March.
"We're getting calls from Fayetteville to the River Valley to Pine Bluff," Simon said. "The mosquitoes are confused by the weather. There's not really been a winter here this year."
National Weather Service forecasters are calling for a chance of rain across most of the state today with temperatures dipping into the mid to lower 40s overnight. The rest of the week will be clear with the temperature reaching the 70s in central Arkansas by the weekend, Goudsward said.
Massingale said he's already seen "wigglers," or hatching larvae, in ditches in Stuttgart.
"They wake up hungry," he said. "It's summer in January. If we don't get a break, it'll be bad."
State Desk on 02/14/2017