Annual mosquito infestations have been irregular of late. This year was the worst in maybe the past five, probably due to the insane amount of rain we've had in the Philly area.

But in the past several years I remember being surprised that mosquitoes really didn't pose much of a problem. I could work in the yard well past sunset without becoming vampire food. That wasn't true a decade ago, IIRC.

So your GP's anecdata is cool but your parent's anecdata is not. :)

Parent's comment is "Actually X can't be happening because Y happened to me". GP's comment is "Z is happening, which might explain why I've noticed W". Parent's comment is textbook cherry-picking, GP's is closer to a regular anecdote.

I certainly agree that my anecdote doesn't prove anything, but I'm not sure it's imperative to immediately attack it as faulty reasoning. For one thing, I meant it in a more whimsical manner than perhaps comes across in my comment. As in a "bloody mosquitoes" kind of way.

In any case, some background might be useful: this happened in Corfu, an island in the Ionian Sea (to the west of Greece). Corfu, like the rest of Greece, used to have a big problem with mosquitoes spreading malaria, so in the 1950s the whole island was sprayed repeatedly from the air with DDT, to eliminate them. I believe the same was done in other parts of Greece.

Possibly as a result of that, the incidence of malaria in Greece is either 0 or negligible, nowadays. Which, despite the ecological catastrophy wrought by spraying bloody DDT on the entire countryside, is a big success- Greeks are among the Mediterrannean populations with a high prevalence of Thalassemia, a genetic modification that helps resist malaria (and which can lead to a sickle-cell anemia, a serious blood disorder):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalassemia

Which means that there was a really significant problem there in the past.

So, when I say that there are many mosquitoes, I mean that I'm surprised there's still so many of the little blighters in Corfu, even given the protracted past campaign to eliminate them- and also given whatever else is happening in the rest of the world that's affecting insects, even though there's no reason that thing is also affecting Corfu, in particular.

But, OK, that doesn't come across in my original comment :)

GP's comment says "has been happening" and parent's says "is not happening." I don't see any "might." Both are anecdotal; GP's is likely more upvoted due to being more poetic as well as supported by the accompanying article.