ARLINGTON, Va. (7News) — In a couple of months, the 2024 cicada emergence will be underway across very specific areas of the United States. This year will be particularly rare in that two different broods will be emerging almost simultaneously for the first time in 221 years, according to AccuWeather.
What are cicadas?
Many species of cicadas live underground for years at a time before emerging in mass quantities believed to be a defense mechanism to outnumber predators.
Dr. Floyd Shockley, Entomologist and Collections Manager at the Department of Entomology at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian, says that there's 7 species of periodical cicada in 15 broods that emerge any given year. 2024 will be a year where 2 of the 15 broods will emerge around the same time. These are the Brood XIX, which emerges every 13 years, and the Brood XIII, which emerges every 17 years.
Dr. Shockley says it's entirely possible there will be a trillion cicadas that emerge between both broods this year.
Cicadas may look threatening, but they're actually very harmless. Dr. Shockley says cicadas don't bite, are not poisonous to domesticated animals like cats and dogs, and they won't harm your gardens. He also says that spraying pesticides will not kill cicadas, and can cause more harm to other animals such as birds and other small animals.
Cicadas live very peculiar lives. They live almost entirely underground feeding on nutrients until the soil reaches 64 degrees on the year of their brood. Once the soil is warm enough, they will emerge from underground by the billions and have a life span of about 6 weeks.
This year, Brood XIX will be visible in extreme southern Maryland and southeastern Virginia.
Where to find cicadas?
Dr. Shockley says it is believed that cicadas were brought to North America during the last ice age as a result of glaciation.
"And if you overlay the map of 17-year broods with glaciation during the last ice age, it's almost identical," Dr. Shockley said.
Cicadas are found mostly in the central and eastern portion of the United States and extend into areas in the upper Midwest like Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and even as north as southern Wisconsin.
Once they emerge, they don't travel very far before they eventually die, which is why they're found in certain areas across the U.S. which is why their locations are relatively sparse.
Another reason for their unique positioning across the country is the lack of trees west of the Mississippi River. Lush forests turn into grasslands, which are not habitable environments for cicadas.
Is climate change affecting their population?
Cicadas are known to emerge exactly when soil temperatures reach 64 degrees, so as our climate continues to change, warmer winters are leading to an earlier cicada emergence.
Dr, Shockley said, "And so because of climate change that is happening earlier and farther north than it previously has, so it has the potential to have them coming out earlier. That used to be a late May thing. Now it's extending into April that we start to see the emergence. And that's due exclusively to temperature changes related to climate change".
Warmer soil temperatures are also leading to cicada populations migrating to areas where they were never seen before. Brood XIX, also called the Southern Brood, is now being found in areas like the Mid-Atlantic because of this.
Dr. Shockley says that it's possible Brood XIX may continue to migrate north toward New England in response to warmer winters along the I-95 corridor.
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