It’s going to get very noisy in these parts this spring with an expected massive invasion of cicadas resulting from the simultaneous emergence of a pair of broods for the first time in more than two centuries.
By some estimates, billions, perhaps even trillions, of cicadas, known for their high-pitched buzz that can reach up to 100 decibels – equivalent to a passing jet engine, blender or power lawn mower – will emerge across the Midwest and South from May through June.
Two broods, one that lives on a 13-year cycle and the other on a 17-year cycle, will emerge from underground together for the first time in 221 years, dating to the Thomas Jefferson presidency. The co-emergence isn’t expected to happen again until 2245.
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The invasion will take place in late spring to early summer. “They’ll all pop up at pretty much the same time. There will be nothing, and then everything,” Adam Passo, a certfiied arborist with Davey Tree’s Milwaukee area office said. “Individually, we’ve seen these broods but them coming out simultaneously is kind of crazy.”
A brood consists of multiple species of cicadas that merge on the same cycle. The Northern Illinois Brood, or Brood XIII, emerges every 17 years and contains three species of cicadas. The Great Southern Brood, or Brood XIX, contains four species is on a 13-year cycle.
Although their numbers will be immense, the life cycle for cicadas is brief, at just four to six weeks. When the insects emerge, they quickly mate. The noise generated by cicadas is tied to the mating process. Male cicadas have sound boxes in their abdomens and they use the sound to attract females, who make a clicking noise when they are ready to mate.
“They tend to be harmless, for the most part. Just annoying and loud,” Passo said.
As the adult cicadas die, they leave behind nymphs that will live underground.
Passo described the cicadas from these broods as having “big, bright red eyes and leather-looking wings.”
“It’s definitely going to be a good time to have a high windshield on your motorcycle,” he said. “Some of these cicadas are 3 and a half inches in wingspan. That’s like getting hit by a tennis ball.”
The cicadas will primarily target young trees as spots for their eggs.
“On newly planted trees they split open the bark, so they make a little wound that they lay their eggs in,” Passo said. “It can dry out a small limb on a newly planted tree. They limb won’t die, it just kind of dries the leaves out.”
For newer trees, Passo suggested that fine netting be placed over their canopies to protect them from the cicadas. “For big trees and mature trees, nothing really needs to be done,” he said.
Different broods of cicadas emerge in various parts of the country in cycles. Other species show up every summer.
The co-emerging broods are expected to emerge in 17 states, mainly in the Midwest and South. The entire state of Illinois is expected to be affected, while only the southernmost portion of Wisconsin.
“We are right at the northern part of their zone,” Passo said. “We’ll see some, for sure, but not to the extent that will be seen in Illinois.”
