Spring has come early to Georgia this year, bringing gentle showers, warm days and swarms of mosquitoes.

"Without question, we've got some big mosquito populations much earlier than normal," said Maxcy Nolan, an entomologist with the University of Georgia Extension Service.

Nolan said county extension agents throughout Georgia have called him with mosquito-control problems. "It seems to be more of a problem in south Georgia, though," he said.

Those wonderfully warm, unseasonably pleasant days have apparently come with a price tag. "We seem to have had the warm weather and the moisture at just the right times for mosquitoes," Nolan said.

Mosquitoes are mostly a nuisance with their painful bites, he said. But they can carry encephalitis to people and horses and heartworms to dogs.

Mosquitoes don't normally reach troublesome numbers this early in the year. "These things fluctuate," he said. "But we do have a heavy population of mosquitoes earlier than normal."

Don't count on that mid-March cold snap to take care of the early mosquito problem.

"It's just going to slow them down a little," he said. "A freeze will kill a ton of adult mosquitoes. And a hard freeze will ice over the water and kill the larvae and pupae. But we're not likely to get a hard freeze."

The early outbreak of mosquitoes may have caught some cities off- guard with their control programs.

"We learned from the 1994 flood that hardly anyone is prepared to handle things like this," Nolan said. "We need to have equipment in good operating condition for heavy outbreaks when they happen."

Nolan said some municipalities will use their mosquito-control equipment in nearby rural areas. Most rural homeowners, though, are on their own.

Whether you live in town or in the country, you can do some things to help ease your mosquito woes.

"The critical thing is to be sure you get rid of the trash where mosquitoes breed," Nolan said. "Spring cleaning is a great time to take care of mosquito problems."

Clean out gutters and pick up any trash that could hold water. Look carefully. A discarded cup or can -- even a plastic food wrapper -- can be a breeding place for mosquitoes.

Remove old tires or drill holes in those used for playground equipment to allow them to drain. Check tarps on boats or other equipment that may collect water in pockets or indentions.

Remove any trash pile and clean up other areas that can shelter adult mosquitoes.

A thorough cleanup helps because "99 percent of the mosquitoes that bite people come from within a few hundred feet," Nolan said. "Most inland mosquitoes don't fly far."

If you live out in the country, with no municipal control program, be sure to use repellants and wear proper clothing outside, he said. You can also buy commercial foggers, from aerosol cans to larger hand-held products, that will kill mosquitoes.

Check your screen doors and windows to make sure they aren't torn. And have fly swatters and aerosol products ready for the pesky biters that get inside despite your best efforts.

Well-managed ponds aren't good breeding grounds for mosquitoes, Nolan said. Wave action keeps larvae from surviving in open areas. Fish feed on the larvae, too.

In shallow edges the fish and waves can't reach, you may want to use a donut-shaped Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) product.

"It floats and treats 100 square feet of water for 30 days," he said. "You can get them in local farm supply stores or mail-order catalogs. They run about $11 for seven 'donuts.' And they won't harm fish, pets, livestock or people."