Blount and Beyond Online Magazine - Magazine - Page 78
The 2024 Cicada Event
Before we talk about the 2024 invasion of the Cicadas let9s answer one question…What are Cicadas?
Cicadas are true insects, best known for the songs sung by most, but not all, male cicadas, they sing by flexing drum-like
organs found in their abdomens. The sound is intensified by the cicada's mostly hollow abdomen. Female and some male
cicadas will also make a sound by flicking their wings.
A rare event will happen this year, by the end of April billions of cicadas, from two different broods, will emerge from
their homes in the ground. This has not happened in the eastern United States since 1803. You might want to know a
little about the millions of them coming our way. You might also wonder if these bugs are dangerous. So, let9s look at the
life and times of the Cicada.
The Cicada has done very little for 17 years. They live in the ground and suck sugar out of trees and grass roots. After 17
years they emerge from the ground and sprout wings. For the next few weeks, we do not have a lot of peace and quiet
time outside due to the noise and singing the Cicadas make. These bugs have waited for 17 years only to have a few
weeks above ground, during this time they mate and then they die. Then the young Cicadas return to the ground and live
the next 17 years in silence, only to emerge again and repeat the same thing. However, we not only have 17-year Cicadas
we have an even rarer breed of Cicadas, the 13-year cicadas.
What makes the event so rare this year is the fact that two groups, known as broods=, are emerging from the ground at the
same time. This means there will be billions, if not trillions of Cicadas, the 17-year and the 13-year Cicadas singing their
songs for our pleasure.
Fourteen states are expected to see and hear these two broods of Cicadas emerge: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois,
Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.
According to Cicadamania.com, the following Tennessee counties are expected to see cicadas this year: Blount,
Cheatham, Clay, Davidson, Grundy, Hamilton, Jackson, Loudon, Macon, Marion, McMinn, Meigs, Putnam, Rutherford,
Sequatchie, Smith, Stewart, and Summer.
So now you know they are coming, and you can just sit back and listen to them sing.