The weather is warming up and ticks will be on the rise in New York.

2019 is being called "The Year Of The Tick" by Pest World. With the milder winter, the weather warming up earlier than usual and the lack of acorns last fall, health and insect experts say it's been the perfect storm of tick population growth.

Health and insect experts are calling it a perfect storm of conditions coming together to create a tick population explosion - lack of acorns and the mild winter. Specifically, the mild winter has allowed ticks, much like other insects to thrive and emerge earlier than usual. As for the acorns, oak trees produced an extremely large acorn crop in 2010, which led to a boom in the white-footed mouse population last year."

So if you have any interest in exploring the great outdoors this Spring and Summer, take steps to protect yourself. Wear long sleeves and long pants, tuck pant legs into socks, use tick repellent and check for ticks before going back in your house.

Also don't forget to check your pets on a regular basis, so they aren't bringing any unwanted insects into your home either.

Cornell Cooperative Extension of Madison County will have information from NYS Integrated Pest Management and Cornell University to talk about ticks. This discussion will be held on Tuesday, April 16th at 5:30PM at the Cazenovia Public Library and again on Tuesday, April 23rd at 4:00PM at the Oneida Public Library. There is no cost to this discussion and we will be meeting in the public meeting space at both libraries.

More From Lite 98.7