Fireflies thriving in Michigan thanks to favorable weather conditions

If summer nights seem a little brighter in Michigan this year, you’re not imagining it.

Favorable weather conditions in recent years have led to an explosion of firefly activity.

Researchers say fireflies thrive in climates that are warm and wet, and conditions in Michigan over the past year match that description – with the results shimmering every evening at dusk.

Nathaniel Walton is a consumer horticulture educator for the Michigan State University Extension in Leelanau County.

He says fireflies have a two-year lifecycle, most of which is spent near the ground as larvae before they emerge for an adult lifecycle that lasts just a few weeks.

If conditions take a turn for the worse at any point during those two years, like an unusually dry late summer or early fall, it could have devastating effects. < “We can’t necessarily count on them being good again this year just because they were good last year,” Walton said.