SPOKANE — The downside of an unusually warm winter is showing up everywhere. Moths, mosquitoes, yellow jackets and bees are out a lot earlier than usual.

"Yes, it's a very early year," said Richard Zack, associate professor of entomology at Washington State University. "If it stays this mild, this could be a bad year for many types of insects."

Though March weather can be unpredictable, insect experts say this shapes up as a big year for bugs. The warm and dry conditions are prompting beetles, flies, moths, bees and yellow jackets to emerge from two weeks to a month earlier than usual. There could be enough extra time for some species to put out an extra generation by summer's end.

"The earlier they get started, the more time there is for populations to develop," said Ladd Livingston, a forest entomologist with the Idaho Department of Lands.

Foresters were hoping for a hard freeze early in winter and still hope for one before the season ends, to help curb forest insect infestations, including bark beetles, Livingston said.

Most experts believe it would take a sustained period of temperatures in the teens or colder to knock down bug numbers.

The prospects for a long cold spell appear dim. The record low for Tuesday was 12 degrees in Spokane and 8 degrees in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. If anything, the chances are better that record highs could be broken, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service.

The agency's long-term forecast suggests the strange weather pattern likely will continue through at least May.

Terry Evans, an office manager for Empire Spray of Spokane, said the pest-control season is running about two or three weeks earlier than usual.

Spring weather plays a major role in determining population size for yellow jackets, said Zack, the WSU entomology professor. The few yellow jackets that have emerged are likely pregnant queens, looking to establish colonies. In normal years, Zack estimated that 70 percent to 80 percent of colonies do not survive spring rains, cold spells or natural predators.

"The better the weather, the more that will make it to maturity," Zack said. "If this continues like it is, without that cold and wet period, if somebody was to ask me for a prediction, I'd say we could have a pretty good problem with yellow jackets this year."

Tree-fruit growers are watching the situation carefully, said Michael Bush, an entomologist with WSU's Extension Service in Yakima. Some insects reach breeding age in less than two weeks, with each new hatch causing exponential growth.

If fruit-tree pests are allowed to escape control early in the season, "It's really hard to play catch-up," Bush said.

The warm weather is also setting the stage for an early cherry and apple harvest, Bush said. This can be good news for apple growers because early harvests usually equate to the best prices. But it could be financially disastrous for cherry growers, putting their fruit on the market at the same time as California's crop, Bush said.