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[Ants4fun]

This has been an El Nino year. The weather for many areas have not been ussual. Here in South Dakota, it has been sixties with plants shooting up and trees budding. In February. Normally this doesn't happen until late March. How does this affect nuptial flights? Will ants go into hibernation earlier?

[MrILoveTheAnts]

If you have Prenolepis imparis in your area, they'll fly sooner and likely finish up in early April as opposed to late April. Camponotus, Nylanderia, and the few species of Formica and Myrmica that fly in the spring will likely start up sooner as well (usually a month after P. imparis at the earliest). Other species that keep alates over the winter will follow that same pattern. Beyond that I've never noticed anything different as Nuptial Flights go. Species that produce alates now to fly from the last week of May and more abundantly over the summer are still restricted by temperatures to fly in the late afternoon, early morning and at night. And as rain storms become less frequent, simple raises in humidity is all it takes to trigger flights until we go back into late summer and autumn, where flights start to be triggered on humid/rainy days after the first dip in temperature.