Will Mississippi see a cicada invasion in 2024? | Curious Mississippi answers

Brian Broom, Mississippi Clarion Ledger
Updated ·4 min read

Editor's note: This is Curious Mississippi, a service to the readers of the Clarion Ledger. Readers can submit questions by email to CuriousMississippi@ClarionLedger.com and editors will pick out the best and reporters will answer them in an upcoming edition.

Some of the United States will see a historic hatch of cicadas this spring unlike any seen in more than 200 years, but will Mississippi be included as billions of the insects emerge from the ground?

The short answer is yes, but some areas of Mississippi will experience far more of the singing bugs than others.

"Within periodic cicadas we have 17-year up north and 13-year down here; 'down here' meaning in the South," said Blake Layton, Mississippi State University Extension Entomology Specialist. "Within those 13-years, there are three different broods. Mississippi is the only place all three occur."

Of those three, Brood XIX is the one that will emerge this year. Because they only emerge every 13 years, that's enough to cause excitement among cicada-lovers, but that's not what all the hoopla is about. A 17-year brood will also emerge this year; Brood XIII.

According to Cicada Safari, this is an unusual event. The last time these broods hatched in the same year was 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was president and Lewis and Clark were in the beginnings of their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. It was also 14 years before Mississippi became a state.

Parts of Mississippi will enjoy a historic hatch of cicadas this spring.
Parts of Mississippi will enjoy a historic hatch of cicadas this spring.

Where will cicadas emerge?

Brood XIII, which emerges every 17 years, has a limited range. Only parts of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin will experience it, according to Cicada Mania.

Brood XIX has a much broader range. It spans from Wisconsin south into Louisiana with a swath through the Southeast stretching to the East Coast.

According to MSU, 17 Counties in Mississippi should see 13-year cicadas this year.

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Mississippi counties where cicada Brood XIX will emerge

  • Chickasaw County

  • Choctaw County

  • Clay County

  • Itawamba County

  • Jasper County

  • Kemper County

  • Leake County

  • Lee County

  • Lowndes County

  • Monroe County

  • Newton County

  • Neshoba County

  • Noxubee County

  • Oktibeha County

  • Pontotoc County

  • Scott County

  • Winston County

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So, what do cicadas do for 17 and 13 years before emerging?

Cicadas don't exactly have what most people would consider exciting lives. When they emerge, males sing a song that is distinct to their particular species to attract females. They mate and the females lay eggs in trees. According to Layton, this happens over a period of four to six weeks and then the adults die.

That's it. That's the exciting part. Really, that's all there is to it.

Here's what they do the other 152-200 months of their lives.

The eggs hatch and become nymphs. They make their way into the ground where the dig around and feed on the sap of tree roots until they emerge in April. Then they shed their shells and start the process all over again.

"It's a dull existence," Layton said.

Will the rest of Mississippi be left out of the cicada hatch?

In a word, no. Other areas of Mississippi will hear some of them singing this year, too.

Broods like XIII and XIX are called periodic cicadas, but there annual cicadas as well. The life-cycles of these spans several years, but they overlap, so some hatch each year.

Layton said these hatches, which happen during summer, are smaller. Because they're smaller hatches, predators looking for an easy meal can quickly reduce their numbers. So, the chorus of mating calls isn't as impressive as those of the periodic cicadas.

When will the next big cicada hatches happen in Mississippi?

The 2024 cicada hatch may be historic, but for Mississippi, there's a bigger one on the horizon.

According to MSU, there will be a periodic hatch in seven extreme southwest counties in 2027. That's Brood XXII.

However, in 2028 a large portion of Mississippi, including the Jackson and Central Mississippi, will experience a major hatch. Brood XXIII is expected to hatch in 2028 in 40 counties from Southwest Mississippi all the way to the northernmost counties of the state.

Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.

Curious Mississippi answers burning questions about life in Jackson and Mississippi. Email your questions to CuriousMississippi@ClarionLedger.com

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi will see a cicada invasion in 2024