The mosquito, South Florida's least welcome summer guest, is late.
Mosquito season typically starts in June, when summer rains allow dormant eggs to hatch, sending swarms of insects into South Florida's neighborhoods, ravenous for blood.
But in the Fort Lauderdale area, rainfall since June 1 is more than 10 inches below a typical year's precipitation, 7 inches lower in the Miami area and more than 5 inches lower in the West Palm Beach area, according to the National Weather Service.
The rain that has fallen has soaked quickly into the parched ground, without creating the standing water and saturated earth required by the eggs.