Trillions Of Cicadas? Don't Count On VA To Add Much To The Buzz

VIRGINIA — While hordes of periodical cicadas will emerge from the ground later this spring to mate and leave their hollow shells behind on trees and lawns, the number expected in Virginia is fairly small.

Periodical cicadas live most of their lives underground before a synchronized emergence every 13 or 17 years.

The cicadas we’ll see in Virginia — likely starting in mid-May and continuing through June — are part of the 13-year Brood XIX. The 17-year Brood XIII will emerge only in Illinois and Michigan, experts said.

Starting in late April, Virginians living south of Caroline County and west of the Interstate 95 corridor should begin looking for the Brood XIX cicadas. Virginia Tech told WAVY this population is the result of 13-year periodical cicadas produced from eggs laid in 2011.

“We are at the very edge of the range of Brood XIX. This makes it difficult to predict exactly where Brood XIX cicadas will emerge,” said Doug Pfeiffer, professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Entomology. “Urban development also affects where we will see cicadas. These insects need trees — hosts longed-lived enough to support multiple generations of 13-year life cycles. Urban development can do away with local cicada populations.”

Periodical cicada Broods IX and X had major outbreaks in Virginia in 2020 and 2021, and these two broods will next appear in 2037 and 2038, said Virginia Tech.

Cicadas spend most of their lives underground as immature nymphs but appear en masse every 13 or 17 years. They should start tunneling toward the surface when soil temperatures reach about 64 degrees and are expected to appear for about four weeks during May and June in Illinois, according to the university.

Their extraordinarily long life cycle, the longest of any insect on the planet, is part of an evolutionary strategy that has allowed the species to survive for 1.8 million years, or from the Pleistocene Epoch.

Cicadas are about an inch long and have a three-inch wingspan. Their mating calls can be deafening, heralding their arrival above ground with a high-pitched cacophony of buzzing that can reach decibels of 100 or greater — about the same as a subway train, forklift or motorcycle.

Pesticides won’t kill cicadas and are not recommended.

Related: The Cicadas Are Coming! They’re Cool Science, And You Can Eat Them, Too!