Michigan’s record-breaking winter temperatures may not be enough to stop ticks from coming back with full force this spring. Michigan is home to more than 20 species of ticks, several of which are known to bite people and can transmit diseases such as Lyme disease.
Despite the cold, Michiganders should be ready for another typical tick season, Jean Tsao told Stateside. Tsao is an associate professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State University who studies ticks. Blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks, are usually the first to become active once the weather gets warmer.
“In the calendar year right now, there are some ticks that are sleeping under the snow. Generally what happens is that, if it's a very cold winter, we won't have too much tick activity,” she said. “But then as soon as it starts to get a little warmer, I would say anything actually above 35-40 degrees for a few days, we will have adult blacklegged ticks becoming active and that could be anytime in the winter, but certainly by mid-march.”
She said ticks are staying alive this winter due to a combination of leaf litter and snow that provides enough warmth for ticks to stay warm under the surface.
“They are tucked underneath the leaf litter and hopefully, for them, under some nice snow and so the snow will add an insulating environment for the ticks as well as many other arthropods,” Tsao said.
For tick survival, how dry the warmer months are is more impactful than temperature. When the weather is dry, ticks spend more time under the leaf layer where “ it may be more moist and humid for them,” she said.
When ticks do become active, Tsao said some Michiganders across the state may have a new problem to worry about. Lone Star ticks were first discovered in Michigan in Kalamazoo County in 2022 and are known to trigger a condition that generates an allergic reaction when people eat red meat. They have an established presence in Southwest Michigan, according to Tsao, but may also be starting to spread to other parts of the state.
“So right now, I think there are lots of places that potentially are areas where these Lone Star ticks might be trying to get a foothold. But I just don't know yet if they actually have become established, but it's probably only a matter of time,” Tsao said.
