If you step outside and onto the grass, you may notice one pestering insect. Mosquitoes.

Reports out of Regina suggest that city is facing three times the number of mosquitoes they normally see in their traps for this time of the year, and Moose Jaw might be up there with them.

"We're definitely having more mosquitoes, especially compared to last year," explained City Parks Gardener Sarah Regent. "And so that is definitely influencing our perceptions when we're out for walks because last year we had fewer mosquitoes then typical and this year, yes, we probably do have a few more just because of the rain we had in early June followed by the nice hot weather. It was perfect to breed mosquitoes."

At the same time, it could just be a matter of perception. We didn't see too many of the pests last year due to the drought-like conditions we saw in the Summer. As for if there will be more, Regent said it's hard to say since it all depends on the weather.

If we get more rain to fill some sloughs, we will see more mosquitoes and if we get drought-like conditions again, then this might be as bad as they get.

Coming up soon we could also see the return of Culex tarsalis mosquitoes, which are West Nile virus carriers.

"Our testing that we do in conjunction with the Ministry of Health is always a couple of days behind trapping but we haven't really noticed the population building up yet," Regent explained. "We don't typically see them until July so we probably won't see them for another week or two in kind of significant numbers."

To avoid the possibility of being bit by one of these mosquitoes it's best to stay aware of them and try to prevent any biting. Also, Regent suggests that we remove any standing water in our yards as it serves as a breeding ground for new mosquitoes.