5 February 2011

Freeze. Thaw. Freeze. Thaw.  Pittsburgh’s weather has been a yo-yo while we hear with horror of blizzards and nor’easters 400 miles away.

While Chicago shut down we had rain.  Lots of it.

We also had a resurgence of brown marmorated stink bugs.

It was so warm on Wednesday that they emerged from their secret hiding places to see if spring had come.  That night the temperature fell to 20^o and they were driven indoors, moving in slow motion, all their energy spent in that brief moment of false spring.

Coincidentally I received an email from a fellow Pittsburgher, Jim Valimont, who’s travelling out west right now. 

He said, “One of the things that I’ve noticed since we’ve been in Arizona and California is that stink bugs are waking up and coming out of our van.  I’ve seen seven, killed six, but one got away.  Think of all of the other snowbirds releasing stink bugs in the south and west this winter.  They’re going to be everywhere in a few years.”

So now we know there’s more than one way to thaw a stink bug.

Watch out, California!