Mozzie Season

Oh fun, it's time for the National Bird of China to come out, the ever-present mosquito. A little late this year because of the drier than normal weather I think, but we suspect it only made them faster and more agile.

Now, when I bought this apartment on the 14th floor (ok 13F if you're superstitious about the number 4, as the people that numbered the floors in my building are) everyone said, "oh great, you won't be bothered by mosquitos, they don't fly up that high"

Uh Huh, someone forgot to tell that to the mosquitos. I have a friend that lives on the 24th floor of his building, and his place is a veritable anti-mosquito fortress, coils, electronic mosquito bats, nets, etc.

But I digress.

So, I ask my darling wife, who buys into this little bit of urban mythology, why the apartment has so many mosquitos if they can't fly up this high.

Her response - "They take the elevator"

Now this leaves me with a mental picture of a heard of mosquitos, getting on the elevator at the ground floor - not the sub basement parking garage level as I suspect if they can't fly very far above ground level they can't fly below ground level - and using their little beaks to press the button, hit "13F" and make their way up to our level. I'm not sure if they wait until we open the apartment door then rush in, or simply fly under the gap between the floor and the door.

Now, the real issue is, can the little buggers actually fly up to the 14th floor, and if not why?

First, one has to take into account aeronautical stuff, like altitude etc.

Apparently, our apartment building sits at approximately 70ft above MSL, add the 14 floors at about 10 ft a story, and you get the apartment at an altitude of about 210ft above MSL.

Given that I grew up in St. Louis, MO, altitude 630 feet, and we had plenty of mozzies there, I think the altitude limitation doesn't count.

Which leaves me believe the "wives tale" means that the mozzies are too lazy to actually fly any distance above about say, 40 ft above ground level.

So, to get up to my 14th floor apartment, they patiently wait for the elevator, and hitch a ride.

Sounds like a good candidate for an episode of "Mythbusters"

And that's the nonsense for today.

Uncle Bob