WATCH: Swarms of Crickets Are Invading Texas

It’s that time of year again in Central Texas.

The great cricket invasion occurs every year around late summer and fall, but this time around is particularly bad. The reason? An especially wet spring followed by a dry summer.

This week, swarms of black field crickets forced one Austin business to close temporarily, and even inspired the University of Texas at San Antonio to issue a rare Twitter “statement” on the cricket “situation.”

They are, quite literally everywhere, and if their never-ending song isn’t enough to drive you mad, their rotting corpses should do the trick. And the fact that experts call it “one of the most predictable outbreaks concerning insects in Texas this time of year,” doesn’t make it any more bearable.

Molly Keck, a specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, told mySA.com that the current weather conditions are "perfect" for the increase in crickets. The largest outbreaks tend to happen during years of dry summers when drought is interrupted by rain or cooler weather.

To keep cricket swarms at bay, residents are advised to turn off their outdoor lights in the early evening so as not to draw the insects. Lights are the top cause of a cricket infestation.

Fortunately, cricket mating season is short, so Central Texans can expect a return to normalcy within the next week.