The Weather Channel, along with other news sources, reports that Iceland, which heretofore was mosquito-free, now has mosquitoes. Come next summer, you may want some insect repellent, especially near lakes or other wetter places. https://weather.com/news/climate/news/2025-10-21-mosquitoes-found-in-iceland-for-first-time
That leaves Antarctica (and maybe also the Faroe Islands) as the last place on Earth without those nasty bloodsuckers!
I heard that the other day. We go there quite often, so I guess we may have to pack our bug nets on future trips.
There are huge mosquitos in Alaska, no big surprise.
While there are no mosquitoes in the Faroe Islands, summer months can bring out midges. And anyone who has been in the Highlands of Scotland can tell you, midges are just as annoying.
As mentioned, Alaska is plagued by mosquitos. And the discussions I've seen Canadians and people from Minnesota (and others) were saying mosquitos can deal with those temperatures quite well.
The theory I heard was that mosquitos were probably blown to Iceland before but they were never able to "winter over" in the times they landed. Now with warmer climates, Atlantic currents/weather, some are making it. Who knows.
Thankfully this summer we had barely any Mosquitoes/Wasps in southern Sweden, 2 summers ago was terrible though.
Are mosquitos the same as midges? I'm not sure we have mosquitos in the UK.
No, midges and mosquitoes are not the same thing. Yes you have mosquitoes in the UK.
I've never really thought about mosquitoes in the UK. I've encountered plenty of midges in Scotland, but I didn't really think that mosquitoes were a thing.
@Gerry- there are three dozen breeds of mosquitoes in the UK- https://www.gov.uk/guidance/information-on-native-mosquitoes
Yes. I did a little bit of reading about it a few minutes ago too. I was surprised how many native species there are. Maybe it's just because I'm in London too much? My experience of flying, biting things in the UK is limited to what I'd call midges I'd say. Almost every summer since I moved to London I'll get a horsefly bite or two that I take a sort of allergic reaction to. I didn't get them in Scotland. They're big things and not mosquitoes either though.
There are huge mosquitos in Alaska, no big surprise
Yes - aren’t mosquitoes the State Bird? I believe that, in Minnesota, they’re giving Loons a run for their money.
The biggest concern about mosquitoes here in the U.S.A., aside from the annoying, itchy welts that result from a bite, is that they’re now carriers of serious diseases, particularly West Nile Virus.
As an aside, only female mosquitoes bite - they need blood from people and other animals to nourish their eggs, which they then lay in still bodies of water.
There are about 30 different style of mosquitos in Alaska. Our son has spent a handful of summers up in the bush there and I remember his first year he told us he counted the bites on his body one day, over 200 when he stopped counting.
What other reports have said about Iceland, is that they found three mosquitoes. They don't know if these were windblown strays, recent imports, or, more importantly, if there is a breeding population there yet. So no need to panic.
We discover mosquitoes in Iceland like they're an endangered species
