They’re back! Get ready for a cicada invasion to hit Georgia and the country

WSBTV.com News Staff
·2 min read

Get ready for a bug invasion as experts say two groups of cicadas are going to be making an appearance across the Midwest and the Southeast.

Some of those groups of bugs, called broods, will be emerging here in Georgia.

“This double emergence is the first time this has happened in 221 years. According to ScienceAlert.com, this won’t happen again until 2245,” the Augusta Chronicle reported.

Brood XIX is expected in Georgia beginning in mid-May and lasting through late June. The brood last emerged in 2011 and has a 13-year life cycle.

The last big brood of cicadas to emerge in Georgia was in 2021. Channel 2 Action News viewers sent us pictures and videos of thousands of Brood X cicadas erupting from the ground in their backyards.

Cicadas come out once the soil reaches 64 degrees. They are often triggered by a warm rain.

They don’t harm people or pets, and scientists say not to kill them.

The only things cicadas can harm are young trees if they climb up them and try to plant eggs on weak, young limbs. Experts say netting young trees protects them.

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“Cicadas have the longest life cycle of any insect, waiting 13 or 17 years to emerge, but once they’re above ground, things move pretty fast. Female cicadas lay eggs in trees, which drop to the ground and burrow, waiting for years to emerge, depending on their brood. Once they emerge, adult cicadas will mate, lay millions of eggs and die, all in about five weeks,” the Augusta Chronicle said.

Once they die off, you won’t see this particular brood of cicadas until 2041.

What makes this year unique, is there will be two different broods emerging throughout the country.

Brood XIII, a 17-year brood, will emerge in five Midwestern states around the same time as the Brood XIX cicadas.

The only states where the two broods will intersect are Illinois and Indiana.

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