Cicadas That Have Hibernated For Nearly 20 Years Are Waking Up And Heading East

Cicadas that have been resting for nearly 20 years are on their way to the East coast. 

The New York Post reports the cicadas – known for their “head-splitting” noise, have finally awakened after 17 years. “The end of May through June, it can get pretty loud,” Howard Russell, an entomologist at Michigan State University, told USA Today. 

The cacophonous critters are winged, black insects, and they are labeled as “broods.” And they won’t just touch down on the East coast; the outlet reports that citizens in Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Washington, D.C. can all expect to see, and especially, hear them. 

For 13 to 17 years, the bugs dug themselves beneath the forest flood and hibernated, using sap from tree roots to support themselves. We haven’t seen them since Ruben Studdard told his girl sorry for the last time, which was in 2004. 

“They are always there; that’s what people don’t realize,” said John Cooley of the University of Connecticut, who runs the Periodical Cicada Mapping Project. He highlighted that “the noise is just head-splitting” when they come up from the ground. And no need to be afraid, they won’t hurt you. However, their 90-decibel mating call is as loud as a lawnmower, and that might bug you. Pun intended.