17-year cicadas are emerging now in Wisconsin. Here's where you can find them
On Friday, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Insect Diagnostics Lab PJ Liesch said he received the summer's first reports of Brood XIII 17-year cicadas emerging in Wisconsin.
The reports came out of the Lake Geneva area in Walworth County. So far, these are the only reports of 17-year cicadas in Wisconsin this year, but many, many more are expected to emerge in the state's southern counties over the next week or two, Liesch said.
This summer is the first time since 2007 that the 17-year cicadas will emerge. Although some cicada species come out every year, Brood XIIIs spend most of their lives underground as juveniles feeding on tree roots and avoiding predators. After emerging, adult cicadas only live about four to six weeks. This means, although they may be a crunchy, chirping nuisance this summer in cicada hotspots throughout the country, people will only have to deal with them for about two months, Liesch said.
Generally, 17-year cicadas do not emerge until soil temperatures reach 64 degrees. Temperatures in Lake Geneva are still "a little below" that threshold, Liesch said, and only about 100 cicadas have been reported there so far. But, as temperatures rise, the area ― which is expected to see the highest 17-year cicada numbers in the state ― could soon be overrun with the insects.
"With the temperatures this week and rain showers today and tomorrow, that's really going to help things," Liesch said. "Once the emergence gets going in full swing, we're probably going to be seeing tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of these emerging in relatively small areas in Lake Geneva and other spots in the state."
Here's where else the cicadas are expected to emerge in the coming weeks.
Where will 17-year cicadas emerge in Wisconsin?
The Lake Geneva area will be the best place in Wisconsin to see the 17-year cicadas due to their well-established record there, especially along the northern side of the lake, Liesch wrote in his blog.
Other cicada hotspots include areas of Green County and Rock County, including Janesville and Beloit. Additionally, the insects are expected to be prevalent in southwestern Wisconsin's Driftless Area counties ― Iowa, Sauk, Richland, Crawford and Grant.
Liesch's blog named Prairie du Chien and the Spring Green area as hotspots. Several cities along the Wisconsin River have also historically had strong cicada activity, he said, and parts of Dane County southwest of the village of Mazomanie could see the bugs as well.
It's important to remember that cicadas won't emerge uniformly across these counties. Liesch describes their distribution as highly concentrated, more like "pushpins on the map."
Will 17-year cicadas emerge in Milwaukee in 2024?
Brood XIII cicadas haven't been documented in Milwaukee County for "several decades" and aren't expected to emerge there this summer, Liesch said.
"They were previously in more areas, but, with land-use changes, their habitat is probably changing over time. When you think about the long lifecycles of these insects, they spend most of their life underground in the soil as juveniles feeding on tree roots. If those trees are disturbed at any point ― they're cut down to make an agricultural field or a parking lot or a strip mall ― those populations will likely go extinct."
Liesch said this is why cicada populations have declined in populous, developed areas like Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.
More: When and for how long will 17-year cicadas be around in Wisconsin in summer 2024?
More: Tons of cicadas will emerge in Wisconsin soon. Here's how to protect your plants and gardens
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Here's where you can find 17-year cicadas emerging now in Wisconsin
