Buzzed Logic: Media Spins Three Icelandic Mosquitoes Into a Climate Story
19 hours ago Anthony Watts
Several major outlets, including NPR, The Washington Post, and The Guardian, recently reported the discovery of three mosquitoes in Iceland as proof that global warming has arrived in the North Atlantic. According to the coverage, the presence of the species Culiseta annulata “shows how climate change is making Iceland more hospitable for insects.”
Each story followed the same template: a small event, inflated into a global narrative. But a closer look at the facts — and the research on Arctic mosquito ecology — suggests a much simpler, less dramatic explanation.
The insects identified were Culiseta annulata, a species long established throughout northern Europe and the British Isles. As the Natural Science Institute of Iceland itself explained, these mosquitoes can “live in cold weather, usually finding shelter in outbuildings and basements.” That’s an adaptation, not a symptom of climate change.
The Institute also noted that the mosquitoes likely arrived by freight or air transport — not by natural migration. Iceland is separated from other landmasses by hundreds of miles of open ocean, and mosquitoes do not travel across the Atlantic under their own power. The explanation “arrived by freight” is found directly in the NPR story — a line that would normally end any speculation about climate causation.
If temperature and latitude alone determined mosquito presence, then Alaska, Canada, and Svalbard would be insect-free. Instead, these regions are known for their intense summer mosquito swarms.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/10/25/buzzed-logic-media-spins-three-icelandic-mosquitoes-into-a-climate-story/
