Iceland’s Unique Status Is Gone: Record Heat Brings First-Ever Mosquitoes

For decades, Iceland proudly held one of the most enviable titles on the planet: a land with no mosquitoes. But that peaceful, bite-free streak has now come to an end.

In a surprising (and slightly itchy) twist, mosquitoes have been discovered in Iceland for the first time ever, following an unusually warm spring that shattered temperature records.

The discovery was made by insect enthusiast Bjorn Hjaltason, who spotted the tiny invaders while studying moths using wine-soaked ropes in Kjós, a scenic glacial valley southwest of Reykjavík. Over several nights, he caught two female mosquitoes and one male, later confirmed by experts as Culiseta annulata - a hardy species known for surviving cold winters.

“I could tell right away that this was something I had never seen before,” Hjaltason said in his post, later shared by local news site Morgunblaðið. “The last fortress seems to have fallen.”

Entomologist Matthías Alfreðsson from the Icelandic Institute of Natural History verified the insects’ identity, saying the species is common across Europe and North Africa but how it reached Iceland remains a mystery.

For years, Iceland’s freezing temperatures and lack of stagnant water kept mosquitoes away. But this spring, the country recorded unusually high temperatures for days on end, something climate experts say, is yet another sign of global warming’s creeping impact.

Typically, Iceland rarely crosses 20°C in May, and even then, the warmth lasts only a couple of days. This year, though, the mercury stayed above that level for ten consecutive days, and the nation even saw its hottest May day ever with the temperature soaring to 26.6°C. 

While Icelanders are used to breathtaking glaciers, Northern Lights, and chilly winds, they may now have to add bug spray and mosquito nets to their shopping lists.

Scientists say the arrival of mosquitoes could signal a changing climate that’s warming even the coldest corners of the Earth. 

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