"The last time periodical cicadas emerged in Washington, blanketing sidewalks and lawns with their large shiny bodies and creating a deafening chorus, John Kerry was running for president, Barack Obama was an obscure state senator, and Donald Trump was praising Democrats on CNN.
Now, underfoot, billions of cicada nymphs are once again preparing to emerge from the earth and take to the treetops of D.C., Maryland and Virginia. The world has changed a lot since the last time these periodical cicadas emerged — and the cicadas themselves may be changing too, driven by climate change.
The periodical cicadas that will emerge this year are Brood X (pronounced 10) — one of the largest groups of periodical cicadas in the world.
“This is our Super Bowl, absolutely, for entomologists, we’ve been looking forward to this,” says Mike Raupp, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland, also known as “the bug guy.” He plans to document the emergence on his blog. It will be, he says, a “spectacular event.”"
Jacob Fenston reports for WAMU March 9, 2021.
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