Why no mosquitoes in California?

Question

I am a foreigner. I recently went for 3 weeks business trip in South California, between LA and San Diego.

With my delight and surprise I found no mosquitoes, even if the weather was warm and my hotels were often located close to small rivers and small lakes, with stagnant water. Why is that? Is because of the very dry climate? Or chemicals are spread routinely in southern california?

Answer 1

They had a choice between earthquakes and mosquitoes. They chose earthquakes.

Answer 2

Not enough standing (stagnating) pools of water and marshlands to provide incubation envirnoments for eggs and larvae.  Also, grasses are too dry to sustain the male mosquitoe's lifestyle.  If there are no males to suck on plant life -- there are no females to look for victims.

Answer 3

Yeah, there is not _enough_ water there...if you spill a cup of water in California, watch out, someone might name it a lake and start a recreation facility for boating near it... ;-)

Seriously, a very wet winter will lead to some things which you don't see in the drier times.  Mosquitoes are plentiful in, e.g., the Midwest due to lots of water (far more than California) and lots of rain, in particular, to replenish little mudpuddles, etc.  (You'll notice a decline in them during dry spells.)

Answer 4

Your presence frightened them away.