Update: The first cicadas in the Chicago area have emerged! Our latest story can be found here. Our original story can be found below.
Following a 17-year hiatus, Chicago's massive cicada emergence for 2024 is closer than you may think.
Earlier this month, the city of Chicago issued an advisory alerting residents that cicadas from Brood XIII are expected to surface in the Chicago area around late April or early May, lasting through early June. The northern suburb of Lake Forest issued a similar timeline, saying "cicadas will be emerging in April/May/June, depending on weather conditions."
As April comes to an end this week and May begins, the timeline is nearly here.
It remains unknown exactly what week or date the insects will appear. However, some signs of cicadas are already beginning to pop up. Experts say residents can look to nature for a clearer answer.
"Research shows that the particular night of the periodical cicadas’ emergence depends on soil temperature," a post from the National Weather Service said. "Cicada juveniles, or nymphs, emerge after a rainstorm when the soil temperature at 8 inches in depth exceeds approximately 64°F."
Allen Lawrance, associate curator of entomology at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, said typically, periodical cicadas emerge in mid-May. Warmer weather could push this timeframe earlier, Lawrance said, but only if it's enough to push soil temperatures above the 64 degree threshold.
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"A warm rain at the right time will often kick off their mass emergence," Lawrance said. "So we will have to see."
Earlier in the month, despite several 80-degree days, the soil temperature in the Chicago area in the 40s and 50s, according to the NBC 5 Storm Team. Temperatures this week are expected to be in the 70s, even reaching 80 degrees at times. However, temperatures will drop back down into the 60s over the weekend.
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In southern Illinois and Missouri however, where Brood XIX will pop-up, there are other signs.
"The 13-year periodical cicadas of Brood XIX may emerge a little earlier," Lawrance said. "Across parts of their range further south they typically begin emerging in mid-April."
Lawrance added that some have already reported seeing adult cicadas in Georgia and the Carolinas, but that "the floodgates have yet to open."
One report from NBC Affiliate KSDK in St. Louis noted that the blooming of certain flowers tend to coincide with an emergence, and that the weather was ripe for cicadas to potentially come out early. However, a recent cold snap foiled those plans.
Whether or not they come early, some parts of the cicadas will stick around longer than their lifespan, which is approximately four weeks, experts say.
"Adult cicadas will be active until mid- to late-June, but you will see evidence long after they are gone, including their wings, molts, and decomposing bodies," cicada expert Catherine Dana, an affiliate with the Illinois Natural History Survey, told NBC Chicago.
Some parts of the Chicago area, including parts near Kankakee county, can expect to see an emergence of both Brood XIX and Brood XII, experts say.
Where will cicadas emerge in Illinois?
Here's a map of what to expect in Illinois, according to data from the USDA Forest Service.
"Most of the state of Illinois will experience periodical cicada emergence in 2024," the University of Illinois reported.
The Northern Illinois Brood itself is huge, with a reputation for the "largest emergence of cicadas anywhere," according to the University of Illinois.
In 1956, entomologists reported as many as 311 "emergence holes" per square yard in a forested floodplain near Chicago, which experts say translated to 1.5 million cicadas per acre, according to the University of Illinois.
"When the cicadas start dying and dropping from the trees later in the spring, there are large numbers on the ground, and the odor from their rotting bodies is noticeable," the U of I reports. "In 1990, there were reports from people in Chicago having to use snow shovels to clear their sidewalks of the dead cicadas."
'There's no stopping them'
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, pesticides are "generally ineffective at keeping cicadas away."
"So many cicadas emerge at once that more will inevitably move in," the agency said. "Spraying also doesn’t make sense because cicadas are generally harmless. Applying pesticides to control cicadas may harm other organisms, including animals that eat cicadas."
With such a large number, there will be no where to run come June, Lawrance stressed.
"There's no stopping them. They're here. It's temporary, and there's really no escaping them," he said.
