As Brood X cicadas emerge, Northeast Pa. awaits their arrival
May 17—Here they come.
Periodical cicadas belonging to what is known as Brood X have started emerging after 17 years underground across a broad swath of their 15-state range, raising the prospect the scary-looking but harmless insects will appear in Northeast Pennsylvania in the coming weeks or possibly days.
Cicada watchers say cooler spring temperatures seem to have delayed the brood's expected emergence in some areas, but their arrival is nonetheless inevitable.
"In Pennsylvania, the cicadas will probably still emerge sometime in late May and maybe into early June," Michael Skvarla, an assistant research professor and head of the Insect Identification Laboratory at Penn State University, said in an email. "Since it's temperature dependent, it's difficult to predict even when we're close."
Although experts say Brood X populations can and will vary by location, some people will have no choice but to notice the large bugs with their red eyes and orange-veined wings.
Warming temperatures trigger the emergence of the cicada nymphs from their underground burrows. Typically, when the soil 6 to 8 inches below the surface hits around 64 degrees, and sometimes after a rainfall, the nymphs migrate above ground, often en masse in a matter of hours.
With daytime highs in the 70s to low 80s forecast in the region this week, conditions will start turning more in favor of the cicadas, said Tony Santoli, Scranton's city forester.
Even so, it's hard to say if that will be enough to get the nymphs moving, he said.
"It's been too cold at night," Santoli said. "We'll need some warm nights to go along with those warm days."
Once above ground, the nymphs will shed their exoskeletons and complete their transformation into adults. The males then begin their distinctive "singing" to attract a mate.
As of late last week, there were scattered sightings of Brood X cicadas in southeastern and south central Pennsylvania, along with confirmed emergences in several states from Alabama to Maryland.
Cicada Safari, a free smartphone mapping app that lets users follow and participate in tracking the Brood X emergence, had been downloaded more than 110,000 times through Friday, said Gene Kritsky, a researcher at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati, Ohio, who created it.
"We developed the app to help generate the most complete map of a Brood X emergence to date," Kritsky, author of "The Periodical Cicadas: The Brood X Edition," said in email. "This will provide valuable data on the overall status of the brood."
Once in the app, which works on Android and Apple devices, users can view photographs of cicadas others have uploaded and upload photos of their own.
Santoli pointed out that local bug enthusiasts who have been anxiously anticipating the Brood X emergence for months could end up disappointed.
During the brood's last appearance in 2004, state officials described its presence in Pennsylvania as spotty. Lackawanna and Luzerne counties lie at the northern tip of the brood's range in the state.
"They're not going to be everywhere, just in certain spots," Santoli said, singling out woodlots and parks as the most likely locations to find cicadas in Scranton. "But who know where they are going to come out from? No one knows where they put their eggs in the ground 17 years ago. It will be a surprise for everybody."
Contact the writer: dsingleton@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9132.
