Mosquitoes in may

What are mossies and other biting insects like in late may? We are doing a cruise and. Inland tour to denali. What works well as repellant?

I don't recall experiencing mosquitoes in May, but it depends on each year's weather. Most use/recommend DEET products but they are nasty. Whether or not you really need it depends on how much you will be outside in buggy areas (eg hiking vs. riding a tour bus). Many tour and activity operators will have a couple of cans on hand.

http://www.alaska.org/advice/mosquitoes-in-alaska

May usually isn’t bad with July typically being the worst month for mosquitos. Even in Denali you shouldn’t have much of a problem in May. Particularly since you won’t be able to make it very far into the park that early in the season. It does depend on how much snow we’ve had and the temperatures so it varies.

I used to use deet which is effective although tried Repel Lemon Eucalyptus last spring. For me, it was as effective as deet and my choice now.

Thanks for that, guys

I have never experienced mosquitoes during any of my May Alaska cruises as the weather is still chilly and it is a drier month.

You shouldn't have any problem at all with mosquitoes in May. I don't regard them to be a problem until after mid-June sometimes even up to July. It seems to me that they are hanging around longer now though. 50 years or more ago they were gone by early August. Nowadays it seems they are peaking then.

Mosquitoes don't breed in salt water or heavy brackish water, so on the coast they are much less of a problem than the interior. I still use Deet, but apparently there has been some promising in-roads with other new products. Here is a link to a similar discussion we all had not that long ago. Included is a link I posted of the Consumer Report review which included the new stuff and another link with product and use disussions. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2210614 http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2065339

When we were in Denali in May we saw a few mosquitoes, but they were the early non-biting species, according to tour guides.

Apparently Alaska's unofficial state "bird" comes in several different varieties.

By all means, bring some repellent, just in case (the weather has been weird the last few years), but you probably won't need it.