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Report: Polar Vortex may have killed 95 percent of stink bugs, but not other common pests

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Posted at 10:15 AM, Feb 19, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-19 10:15:10-05

INDIANAPOLIS — The Polar Vortex may not be fun but there could be something good that came out of this year's wild winter roller-coaster. A report issued this month shows that the environmental event may have killed off up to 95 percent of stink bugs that didn't seek shelter.

According to Pest World, stink bugs typically find shelter in the winter and come back out once the weather gets warm, but the roller-coaster weather that the Polar Vortex brought to much of the U.S. may have thrown them off.

The bugs have been identified in 44 states and the District of Columbia and they're most common in the mid-Atlantic regions.

The report warns that even though stink bugs likely saw a mass die-off, not all common pests saw the same fate. Pests like ants, mosquitoes, termites and even bed bugs tend to be better at finding a place to hole up for the winter.