The cool weather over the spring and early summer might have brought a hidden benefit if it delayed the spread of West Nile virus.
Mosquitoes infected with the flu-like virus were first detected in mid-July, about two weeks later than last summer.
Friday, the city reported infected mosquitoes have now been found in every borough. No human cases have surfaced this summer.
Cool weather means mosquitoes take longer to develop, so they lay fewer eggs, said Varuni Kulasekera, who ran the city’s mosquito surveillance program until this year. And fewer skeeters means less virus.
Another advantage: In chillier conditions, she said, mosquitoes are less likely to be infectious.
And although rainy weather breeds swarms of skeeters, the particular type that spreads the virus in nature thrives in dry conditions because it loves stagnant water, not fresh puddles.
The city’s West Nile virus program suffered major setbacks when top officials quit earlier this year, as The Post reported in June.
Workers reported being unsupervised and said efforts to fight the virus had been crippled by disarray.
Since then, a new scientist has arrived to take charge of the West Nile program, and sources told The Post the mosquito monitoring program is back on track.
So far, the infected mosquitoes are in traditional West Nile hot spots, such as Jamaica Bay, Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery and Staten Island’s Willowbrook Park.
Health officials plan to increase efforts to kill infant mosquitoes using larvicide.