You may not always see them, but you can certainly hear them.
“We are about to see billions of cicadas, commonly referred to as periodical cicadas because they only come out periodically, every 13 or 17 years depending on what broods you’re talking about,” said Austin Jones, a University of Arkansas entomologist.
Seventeen states from northwest Louisiana up through Illinois and portions of the Southeast will experience what some are calling “Cicada-geddon.”
Entomologists expect the harmless – but noisy – insects to emerge from the ground to feed and mate during May and June.
“When soil temperatures hit about 64 degrees six inches down on the year of an emergence, that’s when they all know that is their cue to start coming out of the ground,” added Jones.
2024 will welcome two broods of cicadas, classified as XIX and XIII. Certain northern states will see both, pushing the total cicada population into the trillions – something that hasn’t happened since 1803.
“There are a few overlapping counties in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana where you may see both of those emergences coming out at once and you may have twice as many periodic cicadas,” said Jones.
Cicadas can be up to ten decibels
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