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Seattle’s famously temperate, maritime climate has long buffered the region from extremes, but the swings between soggy winters and increasingly dry summers are becoming more pronounced. Those swings matter a great deal for the animals we call pests. “Drought year” and “wet year” are more than weather labels — they reshape plant physiology, water availability,…

October is the ideal month for Seattle homeowners to begin proactive work against winter rodent intrusions. As nights grow colder and food becomes scarcer, mice and rats start looking for warm, dry places to nest — and the sheltered cavities of houses are very attractive. Taking a focused set of preventive steps in October reduces…

As summer fades into the cool, damp season, Pacific Northwest homes face a predictable but often surprising problem: an uptick in pest activity. The region’s characteristic maritime climate — relatively mild temperatures, long wet seasons, and intermittent warm spells in autumn — creates the perfect set of cues for a wide variety of insects and…

Seattle’s summers are famously mild compared with much of the country, but that temperate, maritime climate also creates a long, steady growing season that many insects and other pests take full advantage of. From late spring through early fall, rising daytime temperatures, longer daylight, and increased outdoor activity combine to push several pest species into…

Seattle’s winters are famous for being wet rather than bitterly cold, and that seasonal mildness has a clear consequence beyond gray skies and rain boots: many common pests never get the long, hard freeze they need to die back or enter true, prolonged dormancy. The city’s Pacific maritime climate—with average winter temperatures generally staying above…

The Pacific Northwest’s temperate, wet climate—long, rainy autumns and winters, frequent coastal fog, and humid summers in many inland valleys—creates conditions that are unusually favorable to an array of moisture-loving pests. From dampwood termites and carpenter ants to silverfish, cockroaches, centipedes, sowbugs and fungus gnats, many of the species that cause the biggest problems in…

Spring in Seattle brings budding trees, milder days, and — unfortunately — the start of another pest season. The region’s cool, wet winters and early-spring rains create ideal conditions for many insects and rodents to emerge from overwintering sites and begin foraging or nesting. For homeowners, that means now is the time to move from…

As Seattle residents scan seasonal forecasts and plan for the months ahead, one of the biggest climate questions—La Niña or El Niño—carries more than just holiday-weather implications. The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) shapes broad winter patterns across the Pacific Ocean, nudging temperatures and precipitation in ways that cascade into local ecosystems and urban environments. For…

January and February are quietly among the most important months for rodent control in Seattle. The city’s Pacific Northwest climate—mild but persistently wet through the winter—creates two powerful pressures that drive rats and mice into closer contact with people: dwindling outdoor food and shelter, and frequent storms and saturated ground that destroy burrows and make…

Seattle’s rainy season has long been a defining feature of the city’s character — misty mornings, saturated soils, and the evergreen landscape at its most vivid. But that steady, seasonal dampness does more than paint the town a deeper green: it fundamentally changes the behavior and population dynamics of a wide range of pests. From…