With wildfire smoke from Canada returning to NYC many of us thought we were walking through clouds of ash, but as it turns out that’s not exactly what that stuff floating around in the air was.
Beginning Wednesday evening, June 28, complaints of clouds of tiny gnat-like insects began flying around, and by yesterday, Thursday, June 29, the insects were still taking over.
The bugs were sighted flying around much of Manhattan and Brooklyn just before dark, says ABC 7 News, though, being difficult to see with the naked eye, no one can exactly tell what kind of bugs they were.
Videos of them are taking over social media, and while some people are saying they’re green, others are saying they’re white.
Regardless of what color they are, you’re going to want to avoid opening your mouth when you’re outside as much as possible unless you’d like to chew on a gnat snack.
And if the subway in the summer wasn’t bad enough, they’ve even been spotted there!
“Floods, raining ash, and a swarm of insects… New York 3/10 on the biblical plague sh*t right now,” tweeted one fed up New Yorker–and rightfully so!
As of now no one’s for sure what kinds of bugs they are or where they came from, though, according to Gothamist, there’s a possibility they could be Pyrophilous insects which are attracted to smoky, post-fire landscapes.
In the end one thing’s for sure–they truly are bugging us New Yorkers.