Winter's supposed to be a quiet time for Greg Pettis.

The owner of Dominion Pest Control & Exterminating in Lancaster typically doesn't get too many calls in January and February. But this, says Pettis, hasn't been a typical year.

"We're getting stink bug calls already," said Pettis last week, about insects "on the inside [of homes] and, believe it or not, on the outside too."

"We've had our first termite swarms ... That usually doesn't happen until mid-March," he said. "We're getting calls now about ant swarms.

"It's a sign of things to come."

With more than two weeks left in an unusually mild winter, spring has already sprung. Spring bulbs have long since pushed through the soil; Canada geese are beginning to leave for northern climes weeks earlier than usual. Allergy sufferers didn't get much of a break this winter.

But the biggest effect is likely to be swarms of insects this spring, bugs that in many cases simply didn't die off due to warmer temperatures and a lack of snow cover. State officials say mosquito populations could explode, and West Nile virus could be a problem.

But, said Pettis, virtually everything that flies or crawls is going to be in abundance this year.

"You can expect this spring is going to be terrible," he said. "If we're seeing [the insects] over wintertime, when it actually does warm up, these things are going to be waiting there to attack."

Sixth-warmest winter
Balmy it was. Record breaking, not quite.

Eric Horst, director of the Weather Information Center at Millersville University, said the winter of 2011-12 is the sixth-warmest on record (Millersville records go back to 1914).

From December through February, he said, Lancaster County averaged 4.6 degrees above normal. December through February 1997-98 averaged 7.6 degrees above normal, the warmest on record here.

And in terms of snowfall, 10 winters have featured less snow than the 11.6 inches recorded by Millersville so far since the end of October. Then again, 40 percent of that 11.6-inch total — 4.6 inches — fell Oct. 29, nearly two months before winter officially began.

Horst said this has been a pretty typical "La Nina" winter, characterized by cooler than normal water temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean, generating relatively mild temperatures here. In addition, he said, the jet stream kept colder air confined mostly to polar regions.

Alaska and portions of Europe, he noted, have been battling record cold. But locally, "this winter is quite similar to what we experienced just four years ago," during 2007-08, when just 10.8 inches of snow fell.

And for the record, Horst called it: "Our winter outlook, issued last October ... called for a 'mild winter that would be more wet than white,' " he said in an email.

The warm weather, said banking and investment firm Goldman Sachs last week, boosted the economy. Lower snowfall, Goldman Sachs noted, "can raise activity in some sectors," like construction.

It also provided a stimulus of sorts for physicians who deal with allergies.

"People say, 'Winter's the only time I get relief,' but not this year," said Dr. Clark R. Kauffman, of the Allergy & Asthma Center in East Hempfield Township.

Most molds that trigger seasonal allergies typically become dormant in colder temperatures; "molds would [emerge] when things start to thaw," he said. But when the ground's been thawed, with minimal snow cover, the molds overwinter — and so do mold allergies.

"There's been a progression over the last few years," he said. "The growing season has been longer, so we're seeing more mold, and more tree pollen in the air."

Other things are taking to the air earlier, as well.

"Because of the mild winter, thousands of northbound Canada geese have already left southeastern Pennsylvania, about two weeks earlier than usual," said Clyde McMillan-Gamber, a naturalist for the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation who also writes a nature column every other week for the Sunday News. "Snow geese and tundra swans will probably go north soon, again earlier than usual."

Other birds have returned sooner than normal, said McMillan-Gamber — robins, migrant purple grackles and red-winged blackbirds. "Eastern bluebirds, tufted titmice and Carolina Chickadees have been looking for nesting cavities in February, which is a few weeks earlier than usual," he added.

His prediction for the coming weeks: "Flowers that normally bloom during the beginning of April might blossom around the middle of March. I would expect to hear spring peepers and American toads chorusing in March, which is a couple of weeks earlier than usual. Bats may be out sooner than usual to feed on flying insects at dusk and into the night. And the grass of lawns may begin to grow earlier than usual, which may mean mowing sooner than normal."

And while "pesky insects" will provide more food for birds, frogs and other creatures, "some of those insects ... could take a greater toll on plants and people," he said.

Won't buzz off
In fact, Matt Mercer said, mosquitoes could be huge problem this year.

Mercer, the county's coordinator of the state-run West Nile Virus Mosquito Control Program, said in an email that he encountered mosquitoes during the winter — "and that tells me that many adults have overwintered successfully." This, along with warm temperatures, will "jumpstart" the mosquito season by at least one month — March, as opposed to April.

Add to this the "persistent standing water... [which] has provided ample mosquito breeding habitat," and it's going to be an itchy spring — or worse.

Last year state health officials set about 50 mosquito traps per week, to catch and count the bugs. The average trap count in 2011, he said, was 100 mosquitoes per trap — twice the 50 caught per trap in 2010.

This year, he said, "the potential for an average of 150-200 (or greater) mosquitoes per trap is feasible."

The greater the number of mosquitoes, he said, the greater the threat of the spread of West Nile or other viruses. County residents, he said, should empty, clean and dispose of any artificial container, be aware of any form of standing water — and notify officials of potential mosquito breeding habitats.

Fleas and ticks
Pettis, of Dominion Pest Control, predicts fleas will proliferate this spring as well. "Usually we tell people that with the first good frost, they're done," he said. "However, we've had steady calls throughout the winter for fleas — it doesn't seem that they're dying off."

In general, he said, because "it hasn't been [very] cold, but it has been wet, the ground is going to be perfectly fertile for insects. Ticks, centipedes, "any insect is going to do much better in its ability to survive because of the warmer temperatures" over the winter, he said.

Gil Smart is associate editor of the Sunday News. Email him at gsmart@lnpnews.com, or phone 291-8817.