Prepare Your Ears For Millions Of Cicadas In Mississippi This Spring

Many confuse these with locusts, but it's important to know that they are two different species. The cicadas that live in the United States are unique in that they spend most of their lives underground.

These periodical cicadas emerge from the ground every 13 or 17 years, and they all rise from the ground at the same time. While it is a cool party trick, there’s actually a method to the madness. The idea is that if they all emerge from the ground at the same time, it would be intimidating for predators. Predators can’t possibly catch them all, ensuring a good number can survive to reproduce.

Brood XIX is expected to emerge this spring for most of the south including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The last time these guys saw daylight was in 2011.

Brood XII is expected to emerge in parts of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The last time this group emerged was 2007.

Good luck, Indiana and Illinois!

It’s one of the first things they do when they come top side. They’ll shed their exoskeletons and then start serenading until a female answers back.

They’re doing their best Marvin Gaye impression. Yep, the sounds we hear are males trying to attract females. Once they mate, the males will die and the females will go off to lay eggs in tree branches before eternally clocking out themselves. The eggs will hatch sometime between late July to early August when they’ll fall to the ground and burrow underground and that’s where they’ll stay for 13 (or 17) years.

The ground has to reach 64 degrees, so it’s a waiting game until that temperature is reached. Don’t worry, these things are so loud there’s no way you’ll miss it. It should happen around mid-May through late June.