Seeing more wasps this summer in the Tri-Cities? Blame the weather

Here’s one more thing to worry about this summer — angry wasps.

You may be seeing more than usual this summer, according to Richard Zack, Washington State University entomologists.

And by this time of the year, wasps are becoming more agitated. The odds you could get stung increase.

Blame the weather for the increase in population and raging attitude.

“They don’t like the intense heat and need water to cool off their nests, where colonies have reached their maximum size,” Zack said. “It has been a hot, dry summer, and finding water isn’t easy.”

Cool, damp springs tend to keep wasp populations down.

But two years of record warm days have helped their population rebound to normal levels.

There are more of the most common kinds of wasps in Washington — yellow jackets and paper wasps — this year than in the past five years or so, said Peter Landolt, WSU adjunct faculty member of entomology and wasp expert.

“Now their populations are back to normal and people aren’t used to it,” he said.

You may see them looking for water, buzzing around recently watered lawns and gardens. Or they may be looking for sugar, landing on soda cans as people picnic, or on over-ripened fruit or berries.

“As summer starts winding down, wasps turn from protein-based foods to sugar for a quick energy fix,” Zack said.

Picking up fallen fruit and covering picnic food will make wasps less likely to hang around.

Zack also recommends putting up commercially available wasp traps on the edges of where people gather.

While they may not be welcome on back decks and where people are dining outdoors, they are beneficial to humans and the environment, Zack and Landolt said.

They feed on aphids, caterpillars, flies and other insects that harm vegetable gardens and field crops.

This story was originally published August 20, 2018 at 6:07 PM.