Billions Of Cicadas Will Buzz This Spring As Two Broods Emerge At Once

"Much of the eastern United States can prepare for what one entomologist described as a "spectacular, macabre Mardi Gras" this spring.

The event Jonathan Larson, an extension entomologist at the University of Kentucky, is referring to is the simultaneous emergence of two cicada broods that will erupt in states from Virginia to Illinois come late April through June.

Periodical cicadas, which have the longest known insect life cycle, spend most of their life underground in an immature nymph form before surfacing from the ground every 13 or 17 years for a brief adult life. A brood constitutes multiple species of cicadas that merge on the same cycle."

Clare Marie Schneider reports for NPR January 21, 2024.