It was cloudy with a chance of skeet-balls.
Tourists in Russia had to hide in their vehicles as a biblical swarm of mosquitoes blackened the skies, as seen in bloodcurdling footage.
The visitors had traveled to Lake Shchuchye in the Buryatia region for a scenic getaway, Jam Press reported.
However, their idyllic lakeside retreat turned into a bite-mare as they were beset by the bloodsuckers, which were so numerous they evoked a plague of locusts.
In a last-ditch effort to escape the bloodthirsty bugs, the sightseers fled to their cars and remained there in the hopes that the insect clouds would dissipate.
However, they eventually gave up and decided to leave without even visiting the lake.
The video prompted aghast reactions from social media commenters with one exclaiming, “this year there are a lot of mosquitoes everywhere, but I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
“Terrible – like locusts,” said another, while a third advised the travelers to “fix the antenna.”
Entomologists claim that the extreme level of mosquito activity expected to persist until next week.
In accordance, authorities have recommended that both residents and visitors deploy repellents and protective clothing. Just don’t use DEET as this can paradoxically attract the parasites, according to a recent study.
Unfortunately, the skeeter swarms are more than just an itchy nuisance. Russia’s Kursk region has been plagued by dirofilariasis, a mosquito-borne disease characterized by roundworms that migrate beneath the skin, the CDC reported.
The mosquitoes pick up these hitchhikers by feeding on infected dogs and cats then biting humans, who are forced to undergo surgery to remove these subcutaneous stowaways.
This isn’t the first time Russia has been besieged by a mosquito monsoon.
In 2021, millions of mosquitoes descended upon the Kamchatka Peninsula alongside the Bering Sea, forming veritable insect tornadoes like something out of a bad SyFy channel original movie.
They were captured on camera by those brave enough to reap the whirlwind.
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