Brood X Cicadas are Coming
How are you going to eat them?
They’re coming! Are you ready? The 17 year cicadas are due back between April and June this year. They are called Brood X or Great Eastern Brood. Billions, yes billions, of cicadas will grace us with their presence for about six weeks.
According to meteorologist Justin Berk’s official social media page, “Ground temps appear to be warming faster than expected, meaning they could be here sooner.”
West Virginia University Biologist, Matt Kasson, tells the New York Times:
They are ready but waiting for the soil to be warm enough. The ideal soil temperature for cicadas is about 64 degrees. For the Mid-Atlantic region, that usually comes by about the third week of May, but it could be sooner. Usually, you have stragglers on either side. — Matt Kasson, West Virginia University Biologist
I remember as a little girl when I first saw a cicada. I was nine years old and just moved to Maryland from California. I remember these huge flying bugs with red eyes and they were everywhere! They were falling out of trees, they were on the ground. Everywhere you went you could hear the constant hum or you were crunching on them as you were walking. Whenever one of us found a molted shell we would put it on each other and laugh hysterically. And the noise! Their mating…
