Summer Drought Likely Reduced Tick Activity In Maine, But They’re Back

If there’s one thing that deer ticks don’t like, it’s dry weather, and this year, Maine has had plenty of it. A lack of rain throughout the summer resulted in a moderate to severe drought throughout the entire state of Maine for the first time in 18 years. Tick experts believe that the hot, dry conditions may have contributed to less tick activity and tick-human interactions during the summer, but they expect an uptick in tick activity this fall. “This is the time of year when people kind of let down their guard from protecting themselves from mosquitoes and blackflies — but ticks remain active steadily into the fall,” said Griffin Dill, a tick expert who manages the Tick Lab located in the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Diagnostic and Research Laboratory in Orono.