2024 cicadas map: Here's where to see trillions of insects. Want quiet? Avoid these states
If you're kicking yourself for not booking a vacation to see the April 8 total solar eclipse — seeing as how Florida wasn't in the path of totality — you have another opportunity to see another rare event.
But you'll have to travel outside of Florida to see them. Yes, them. Trillions of them.
We're talking about cicadas. It won't be long before two different broods emerge from underground with love on their minds and plenty to sing about as they look for the special someone.
The rare, double-brood event hasn't happened in over 200 years, well before the Civil War.
If bugs aren't your thing and you're willing to wait until 2045 for another solar eclipse that puts Florida firmly in the path of totality, that's OK, too.
If you're planning a vacation to celebrate the end of the 2023-2024 school year or just to get some peace and quiet, here's what you should know about areas to avoid.
When are the cicadas expected to emerge?
The two different broods will begin to emerge when the soil 8 inches underground reaches 64 degrees. Their emergence is often triggered by a warm rain. They will likely emerge beginning in mid-May and through late June.
The last time these two broods emerged together was in 1803, according to CicadaMania. It won't happen again until 2245, according to ScienceAlert.com.
Cicadas 2024 map: What states will see the insects?
There are two different broods — or groups — of cicadas that will emerge in a few weeks.
Brood XIX comes out every 13 years. Brood XIII emerges every 17 years.
Brood XIX is set to emerge across the Southeast and Midwest. Brood XIII will emerge in five Midwestern states around the same time, according to Cicada Mania.
Residents in Iowa and Illinois will be especially "lucky": the two broods will likely overlap in those states.
That makes 17 states across the Southeast and Midwest where the cicadas will be found.
Want more specifics to plan a vacation around cicadas? These are the states to avoid (or visit)
Brood XIX (19) is estimated to emerge in these states beginning mid-May and lasting through late June:
Alabama.
northwest Arkansas.
northwest Georgia.
southeast Iowa.
southern Illinois.
southwest Indiana.
western Kentucky.
northern Louisiana.
Maryland, in St. Mary's County.
Mississippi.
Missouri.
central North Carolina.
eastern Oklahoma.
western South Carolina.
Tennessee.
eastern Virginia.
Brood XIII (13) will emerge in these states in mid-May and ending in late June:
northern Illinois.
Indiana, near Lake Michigan.
eastern Iowa.
southern Wisconsin.
Are there cicadas in Florida?
Yes, there are 19 types of cicadas in Florida, according to the University of Florida.
Unlike the types expected to emerge in huge numbers elsewhere this year, Florida's cicadas do not come out in massive periodic cycles. Instead, adult cicadas in Florida emerge every year.
Just like their northern cousins, Florida cicadas spend most of their lives underground. How long is unknown, except "that the minimum seems to be four years under natural conditions," UF researchers said.
How loud are cicadas?
The din from millions of male cicadas can hit 100 decibels, which sounds almost like standing three feet from a chainsaw.
Yes, it's the males that are the noisy ones as they try to attract a female.
Want to hear more? Here are more than 50 cicada calls from Cicada Mania.
How do you pronounce cicada?
The most popular ways are ci-KAY-duh or si-KAH-duh, according to Cicada Mania.
Cicada trivia to amaze your friends
What is a group of cicadas called? A plague.
Bob Dylan wrote a song inspired by Brood X called the "Day of the Locusts." Trivia point 2: Cicadas are not locusts; locusts are grasshoppers.
Cicadas' wings repel water and bacteria.
Cicadas have one of the longest insect lifespans, living 13 or 17 years. Only a tiny fraction of their lives is above ground.
Cicadas use math to avoid predators. Those 13- and 17-year emergences are prime numbers. Speculation is that helps cicadas avoid synching up with predators, whose populations rise and fall on two- or 10-year cycles.
There are almost 3,400 species of cicadas and the majority of them emerge every two to five years.
Cicadas emerge when the temperature eight inches below the surface reaches 64 degrees. Not 63. Not 65.
Cicadas don't eat while underground; they drink. They suck xylem from plant roots.
Those translucent skins they leave behind are called exuviae.
Periodical cicadas that emerge in years before they're supposed to are called stragglers.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Cicada 2024 map: States where Broods XIX, XIII will emerge
