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New Orleans Mosquito Forecast

Today's mosquito activity in New Orleans, the week ahead, and what to do about it. Updated hourly.

Bite Index · Sunday, November 8

High

High mosquito activity in New Orleans today. Cover up or use repellent after 6 pm.

Bites within a few minutes outdoors at dusk. Repellent or long sleeves pay off.

Quieter than a typical November in Orleans Parish (usually around 62).

  • Only 4 mosquito complaints to New Orleans 311 in the last 7 days, well under the recent average of 6.4: fewer new breeding sites than usual.
  • Only 0.1 in. of rain Oct 22–Oct 30, so few new breeding sites; what's biting is coming from irrigation, pools and creeks.
  • A two-week average of 69°F keeps populations growing, just more slowly than midsummer.

The week ahead

Each day's Bite Index, from this week's weather and the rain that is still hatching. Forecast days get less certain as the week goes on.

  1. Today
    41High69°/51°dry
  2. Mon
    40Mod.74°/52°dry
  3. Tue
    40Mod.78°/57°dry
  4. Wed
    46High80°/67°dry
  5. Thu
    37Mod.74°/62°dry
  6. Fri
    30Mod.62°/53°dry
  7. Sat
    31Mod.61°/51°dry

Protect tonight

Use repellent for any time outside after about 6 pm.

  1. 20% picaridin or 20–30% DEET for the evening; follow the label's reapplication window.
  2. Long sleeves and pants in light colors cut bites roughly in half on their own.
  3. Skip the yard work at dusk: the hour around sunset is the heaviest biting of the day.
Which repellent, and how much: DEET vs picaridinBest natural repellents

Why New Orleans's mosquitoes do what they do

New Orleans is a bowl below sea level between a river and a lake, drained by pumps, with a subtropical climate that keeps mosquitoes flying in every month. The city's Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board has trapped and tested since the 1960s and found West Nile in local mosquitoes by early June in 2026; its 311 mosquito-complaint line is one of the live signals behind this page.

  • Below sea level: nothing drains by gravity, so rain sits in yards, catch basins and the canal network until the pumps catch up.
  • Spring and fall peaks: the hottest weeks of July and August actually bring a lull, with the worst biting in May–June and September–October.
  • Culex and Aedes both: the West Nile vector breeds in catch basins; Aedes aegypti and albopictus breed in the containers of every courtyard.
  • Hurricane season: a tropical system means a parish-wide surge about ten days later.

A typical year in Orleans Parish

The long-run mosquito index by month from our season map (NOAA climate normals plus effort-corrected sightings). Today's Bite Index is the live version of this; the month you're in is marked.

  1. JJanuary: 46
  2. FFebruary: 41
  3. MMarch: 43
  4. AApril: 54
  5. MMay: 74
  6. JJune: 87
  7. JJuly: 80
  8. AAugust: 75
  9. SSeptember: 83
  10. OOctober: 75
  11. NNovember: 62
  12. DDecember: 53

Local surveillance and West Nile virus

The Bite Index measures nuisance biting, not disease. Orleans Parish's health department traps and tests mosquitoes through the season and publishes positive West Nile pools by ZIP code. When your ZIP has an active advisory, follow it regardless of today's number.

4 mosquito complaints to New Orleans 311 in the last 7 days (recent weekly average 6.4). Standing-water complaints are the earliest sign of new breeding sites; they feed the ground-truth factor below.

How the Bite Index is scored

The index is a model of conditions, not a mosquito count. Four weather factors are combined on a 0–100 scale, then scaled by the season. Every factor and today's value for it is listed here so you can check the number yourself. It uses the same temperature curve and rain logic as our county-level mosquito season map, which has been validated against effort-corrected sighting data across 41 states.

BBreeding pressure

Rain 7–14 days ago (0.1 in. between Oct 22 and Oct 30). Eggs need water to hatch, and at summer temperatures the egg-to-biting-adult cycle takes about a week, so today's mosquitoes are last week's rain. Cool weather stretches the window; hot dry days shrink it as shallow water evaporates.

Weight 40%
Today 0%

DDevelopment

The trailing two-week average temperature, on the same curve as our national season map: nothing below 50°F, full speed at 78–88°F, a small penalty in extreme heat.

Weight 25%
Today 67%

ATonight's activity

Whether the population that exists will actually fly and bite this evening: dusk temperature (65–85°F is ideal), wind (they stop flying around 10 mph), humidity, and rain around sunset.

Weight 25%
Today 58%

GGround truth

Only 4 mosquito complaints to New Orleans 311 in the last 7 days, well under the recent average of 6.4: fewer new breeding sites than usual.

Weight 10%
Today -75%

SSeason gate

A multiplier from the calendar: fully open in the city's season months, half-open in the shoulder months, nearly closed in deep winter unless the week is warm. Below a 50°F weekly average the index is simply 0.

Weight ×
Today 100%

index = 100 × S × (0.40 × (0.2 + 0.8·B) + 0.25 × D + 0.25 × A + 0.10 × (0.5 + 0.5·G))

Bands: Low 0–20 · Moderate 21–40 · High 41–60 · Very High 61–80 · Severe 81–100. Weather is from Open-Meteo (observations and the 7-day forecast), refreshed hourly. The lag and temperature thresholds follow published work on Culex and Aedes development (Rueda et al. 1990; Cornell NRCC degree-day emergence; JAMCA 2024 on rainfall two to four weeks before trap peaks).

Questions people ask about mosquitoes in New Orleans

When is mosquito season in New Orleans?
All year, with two peaks: late spring (May–June) and early fall (September–October). Midsummer heat suppresses them a little, and a January cold snap more, but the parish never truly goes quiet.
Why are there so many mosquitoes after it rains in New Orleans?
Rain has nowhere to go. It stands in yards and catch basins until the pumps drain it, and at local temperatures eggs become biting adults in about a week, so the surge lands 7 to 14 days later.
Is West Nile virus a risk in New Orleans?
Yes. The control board detects West Nile in local mosquitoes most summers and announces spray operations by neighborhood. Follow those notices over the Bite Index, which measures nuisance biting.
Where does this forecast's data come from?
Open-Meteo weather for central New Orleans and the city's own 311 mosquito-complaint counts (via data.nola.gov), scored by our documented model. Not a trap count; the control board is the authority on disease.

Also covers Metairie, Kenner, Gretna, Chalmette, Slidell, Mandeville, City Park, the Bywater: the forecast point is central New Orleans, and conditions within about 30 miles track it closely. Weather fetched Nov 8, 12:38 PM local time.

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