Warning: Ticks Could Be Very Bad This Summer

Ticks.

People hate them. Your pets hate them. Unfortunately, we have some news that you're going to hate:

Ticks may be very prevalent this year, and you might already need to be looking for them.

Warm Winter Means More Ticks

While most of us around the state enjoyed the lack of snow and the warmer temperatures this winter, one unfortunate side-effect of the warmth is that it meant ticks had a much shorter break than usual.

There are two factors for why there will be more ticks this summer: temps over 40 and no snow.

Lucus Pols with Kalamazoo County Environmental Health says temps over 40 bring the ticks out. Considering March had an average high of 40 degrees, this doesn't bode well for Michigan. Then, in an interview with TV6 and FOX UP, a wildlife biologist for the Michigan DNR said that ticks usually spend the winter on another animal before falling off into the snow or dirt. When there is snow, that means they will just fall into the snow and die.

However, since there was only a total of 47 inches of snow rather than the 76 inches Grand Rapids usually gets, that means there has been far more dirt this year than normal aka more opportunities for the ticks to breed. All this adds up to a pretty tick-filled summer.

Tick Prevention

Ticks are known for transmitting a disease called Lyme disease. Since ticks are always biting different animals, they tend to spread diseases. While Lyme disease is treatable with antibiotics, removing a tick as quickly as possible is best. The Michigan Department of Health and Human Resources has made a Tick Bite Prevention pamphlet you can view here that shows how to remove a tick and where Lyme disease is known to be throughout the state.