Watch as swarms of mosquitoes transform into a mosquito ‘tornado’
Move over, Sharknado.
Residents of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia are bravely venturing outdoors to record seemingly infinite mosquitoes swarming the eastern coast, which is alongside the Bering Sea, the northernmost part of the Pacific Ocean.
In a nightmarish turn of events, a video obtained by East2West news shows millions of mosquitoes amass and swirl to form tornadic pillars.
That’s right — a behemoth whirlwind of blood-sucking bugs.
From afar, viewers would guess it’s simply dirt and debris being swept up in a storm, but up-close footage reveals the apocalyptic reality.
Alexei, from Ust-Kamchatsk, told East2West that the “cloud” of mosquitoes appeared to endure “for several hundred meters” during a recent drive, in which he saw several “giant pillars” of the insects.
“I could hardly see the road,” he said.
Alexei added that the mosquito “tornado[es]” would appear to disassemble, then reform a new funnel that reached the dark clouds above.
Local media in Kamchatka reported on the bizarre phenomenon, which experts have claimed is a regular occurrence in the region.
“These are male mosquitoes swarming around one of several females in order to mate — there is nothing wrong with this,” said entomologist Lyudmila Lobkova, speaking to Kamchatka Inform, according to the Siberian Times.
Experts also insist that the throngs of mosquitoes won’t, say, mass to form a hive organism bent on revenge against deet-wielding humans.
Previous reports on these skeeter storms have explained how climate change is driving the infestation in Siberia by providing mosquitoes with a prolonged mating season thanks to rising temperatures.
Terrifying swarms of insects are reported globally year-round, such as in 2019 when a horde of dragonflies in the Midwest grew so large that the mass was picked up by National Weather Service radar.
While many of the reported swarming events are either harmless or to be expected, headlines have grown increasingly dire in recent years. Since 2019, a “plague” of locusts have wreaked havoc on parts of East Africa and the Horn — devastating food crops and exacerbating the enduring hunger crisis in the region.
