Southeast Iowa heavy spring rains bring swarms of .... what? Midges is my guess.

As we've all heard, there was record flooding in eastern Iowa this spring. Here in Fairfield, in the southeastern part of the state, we had no floods, as we're not near any rivers, but the rains of April, May and June, seem to have brought about another scourge: swarms of gnat-size insects that like to fly directly into your eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and that I'm pretty sure are also able to bite. (I have a few welts around my temple and ears that I don't believe came from mosquitoes.) My layman's guess is that they are midges. They are gnat-size - about 1/10 inch long, and they all seem to have emerged at once about 4 or 5 days ago. Talking to some of the long-time residents in the area (I'm a relative newcomer), they can't recall there ever being such a huge number of these things. They're active day and night. Looking at a beam of sunlight reflecting on them, it looks like hundreds of dust motes, bouncing around randomly as if in brownian motion. And they are absolutely everywhere: in town, and out in the country; in your backyard, and way out in the open fields. Am I correct in assuming that the extensive wet weather increased their numbers?

I will try to capture a few and post a photograph (I don't have a very good camera), but with such a conspicuous nuisance like this, I was thinking that someone (maybe the state Ag extension service) might have issued an advisory on them. They are a major pain for people, who work outdoors (like myself). It definitely affects your ability to work. Mosquito repellent doesn't seem to affect them. Some of my friends are applying various roll-on, strong-smelling herbal stuff to their faces and necks, with questionable success. Has anyone else encountered these critters?

best regards
Al Gabis
Fairfield