Ohio meteorologist Mark Johnson made the Internet’s skin crawl after posting a photo of a car covered in flying bugs to his Facebook page, an image that definitely won’t be easy to forget.
These creatures are actually called mayflies, and they can be found in droves throughout Ohio and Michigan during this time of year. For what it’s worth, where I live on the coast of Maine, the most perilous obstacles my car faces when parked include the pinpoint accuracy of gull poop and the occasional door ding from a Lexus owned by a retired Florida couple—nothing like this mess that looks like something out of the Old Testament.
Making matters worse for the sorry soul that owns this Mazda is the fact that they’ll have to wade through several feet of bugs in the surrounding parking lot to even reach the car for cleaning.
For those of us that don’t live in the book of Exodus, there are some practical solutions for removing bug splatter from our cars. Several companies make special bug-removal sprays and scrubs to loosen up the mess. Experts recommend removing as many bug-bits as possible before washing to ensure a clean surface. After the wash, a coat of wax will help lessen the impact of future bug splats.
A single mayfly, for reference.
In case you were thinking of making a home in northern Ohio, keep in mind that Johnson says this is an annual occurrence. Several people chimed in to say that, yep, the bugs are real and there are a bunch of them. One person even mentions using their snow plow to clean up the mayflies…wince.
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