I haven't heard anything else about the attack, the link to the article was sent to me by a friend that used to live in the area. You can imagine how horrifying and painful the attack was to all involved. And yes it's unlikely that a swarm as we know a swarm did the attack, but the word swarm could also be used in describing a mob of bees. Most likely an animal or person disturbed the colony, and many paid for it.
The area this attack happened in is in central Arizona at an elevation of about 5000'. Winters are mild with little snow fall, and what does fall typically melts fast. The AHBs are well established there, and this is not the first story of an attack from the area I have heard of. It is said these bees don't overwinter in areas with colder, harsher winter weather. I sure hope that is true, but they do hybridize with our gentle strains of bees that do winter well. It's hard to see why a hybrid strain wouldn't eventually develop that would have both the vicious aggressive behaviour, and wintering ability in cold climates.
I live about 100 miles north of there at an elevation of 7200' in a mountainous area. The elevation changes rapidly in a short few miles. Winter conditions 10 or15 miles from me can be drastically different than where I live, especially being much warmer on the lower south facing slopes. Right where I live deep snow cover commonly blankets the ground for months with freezing nights lingering on into late spring. It got down to 26 degrees F just a couple of nights ago. Spring with it's warm days but cold nights seems to drag on forever at this elevation, and is hard on the bees with nothing much blooming. Maybe I'm just on the edge of the range of where those AHBs can winter.
