NEW MEXICO: Grasshopper Swarms Are So Dense They Show Up On Weather Radar
The worst grasshopper infestation in 20 years has become so thick around Albuquerque, N.M., that the airborne bugs are showing up on weather radar, officials said today. “Albuquerque has not seen these levels of grasshoppers since the early-mid 1990′s,” said John R. Garlisch, extension agent at Bernalillo County Cooperative Extension Service. The National Weather Service said the air is so dense with the bugs that they appear on its radar like rain. The swarm, the worst in two decades, is being blamed on the drought. “There wasn’t enough winter to kill the egg pots. Because of the dry winter the eggs survived, hence the outbreak of grasshoppers,” David B. Richman, professor emeritus at the Department of Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Weed Science, New Mexico State University said.You know what else New Mexico has? Paging Cindy Jacobs...
Labels: nature, New Mexico, wildlife
