[UPDATE] Cicada Numbers In Illinois Will Be Enormous And Disgusting

This spring, we will see the largest number of cicadas popping out of the ground in over two centuries. A newly published map shows no other state will see as many as Illinois.

Cicadapocalypse 2024

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That's exactly what we should be calling this spring in Illinois, Cicadapocoolypse 2024. More cicadas will be emerging from their long naps in Illinois than any other state.

By now, you've likely read that a double brood emergence is coming.

Illinois and the rest of the US will be invaded by millions of periodical cicadas this spring when two gigantic broods of the insect will be coordinating an uprising.

The size of the double brood emergence is predicted to be the biggest seen in 221 years.

What I didn't know UNTIL I SAW THE MAP BELOW was how bad it is going to get in the entire state of Illinois. In normal years, no state has cicada numbers like Illinois.

What You Should Know About Periodical Cicadas

Once every 13 or 17 years Periodical cicadas arrive in big numbers and this year two broods are coming.

Brood XIII makes an appearance every 17 years, while Brood XIX pops up every 13 years. This year, they’re going to have to learn to share, as they’ll be wriggling topside together.

According to a story at iflscience.com, periodical cicadas emerge in 17- and 13-year cycles, and these two groups — Brood XIII and Brood XIX — appear at the same time only once every 221 years.

If millions of cicadas are turning Spring 2024 into Cicadapocalypse, that means our trees and decks will be covered in billions of cicada eggs.

And...

That egg thing isn't the most disgusting fact you should know about cicadas and this spring in Illinois

Once these insects crawl out from underground and shed their exoskeletons, the males will start making all that racket trying to attract a female so they can mate and help ensure the survival of the next generation.

Female cicadas lay their eggs, the eggs hatch, and the nymphs fall to the ground, starting the cycle anew.

Most Disgusting Fact About Cicadas

Cicadas live with the threat of something similar to Sexually Transmitted diseases in humans. And it gets so bad that parts of the cicada begin falling off.

As the sexually transmitted pathogen eats away at the cicada’s reproductive organs, the insect will pass it on to every other cicada they encounter. Eventually, the eating away becomes so severe the cicada’s butt falls off.

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Maybe Dirty Cicada Orgy 2024 is a more realistic title than Cicadapocalypse.

The Peoria Journal Star shared a map showing where the two different broods will emerge this spring adjacent to one another, "a handful of counties in west-central Illinois."

The other fact the map reveals: No other state will see the kind of cicada numbers Illinois will.

• BLUE = Brood XIII
• RED = Brood XIX

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Click here for a map of ALL 13- and 17-year cicada broods and the years they will emerge.

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