Answer Woman: Will cicadas inundate Buncombe County, WNC in 2024?

ASHEVILLE - A reader asks if Western North Carolina will be overtaken this year by an emergence of ground-dwelling cicadas and their constant low hum.

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Question: Is it time for the 17-year cicadas? I remember a real bad year for them was in 2007.

Answer: Not only are cicadas coming to the Southeast and Midwest this year, but they’ll be emerging like they never have before. Well, at least since the days of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency.

For the first time in 221 years, the region will see what’s known as a double emergence of two specific types, or broods, of cicadas across multiple states around spring and summer this year.

After 13 years, Brood XIX will pop out of the ground in the spring of 2024 in 15 states across the Southeast and Midwest, and the 17-year Brood XIII will emerge in five Midwestern states around the same time. That’s according to Cicada Mania, a website dedicated to cicadas, which the site calls “the most amazing insects in the world.”

These two types of broods won't align again until 2076, according to a research article from the University of Connecticut.

More on cicadas: Answer Man: Where are the cicadas? What are the night-time noise-making critters?

But the key question: Will they be descending – or should I say ascending? – on Buncombe County and WNC this year?

According to Cicada Mania, North Carolina is one of the 14 states where Brood XIX cicadas will emerge, most likely beginning mid-May and ending in late June. The site specifically lists Buncombe County as the only WNC county expected to see an emergence of this brood.

However, as we learned back in 2021 when periodical cicadas started popping up in Buncombe County where they weren’t expected, not all cicadas of a particular brood like to stick to county lines.

“That's how these 'broods' shift geographically over the eons, handfuls of individuals moving beyond their brood's main area for whatever reason,” James T. Costa, executive director of the Highlands Biological Station and a biology professor at Western Carolina University, told the Citizen Times during the 2021 emergence of Brood X.

Last cicada emergence nearby: Answer Man: Cicadas in the Asheville area already? Did Answer Man blow it?

This year, Brood XIX are expected to emerge in other counties nearby, namely Union County in North Carolina as well as York and Union counties in South Carolina, according to Cicada Mania.

Periodical brood emergences are not one size fits all, and some are more staggering in certain areas than others. According to Costa, “the next big emergence in our area – Jackson, Macon, Haywood, Buncombe, etc. – is the Brood XIV emergence expected in 2025.”

What is a periodical cicada emergence?

Periodical cicadas, which live most their lives underground, leave the soil after either 13 or 17 years, depending on the brood, and transition from nymphs to mature adults, the Citizen Times previously reported. Once they do emerge, they mate, lay millions of eggs and die, in a span of about five weeks.

The cicadas begin their journey to the air when the soil 8 inches beneath the ground reaches 64 degrees, so they could start emerging mid-May, depending on the locality and elevation, according to Cicada Mania.

“A nice, warm rain will often trigger an emergence,” the website said.

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In a typical year, you might recognize the noise of annual green cicadas as the familiar drone of summer. But during the few weeks that periodical cicadas — the ones that appear every 13 or 17 years — are mating, their call and response can reach over 90 A-weighted decibels, according to an article from the National Institutes of Health.

“That is as loud as a lawnmower, motorcycle or tractor!” the article reads.

But if the red-eyed critters start to overwhelm you come June, just be glad you aren’t a resident of Illinois or Indiana, which will have both the XIX and XII broods crawling from the ground around the same time this year.

Still curious about the cicadas? You can read more about the 2024 emergence at https://cicadas.uconn.edu/.

Ryley Ober is the Public Safety Reporter for Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at rober@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter @ryleyober

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Are cicadas coming to Buncombe County WNC in 2024