Concurrent Emergence of Brood XIX and XIII Cicadas Brings Viral Videos to Southeast and Midwest USA This Year

Cicada videos have already gone viral on social media as the arrival of two broods signals an influx of these insects across parts of the southeast and Midwest United States this year. With billions, if not trillions, set to engage in a frenzied mating ritual that will last several weeks before they die off, their legacy lives on as eggs are laid on forest floors for new life cycles to begin anew. The concurrent emergence of broods XIX and XIII marks the first time this has happened since Thomas Jefferson was president 221 years ago; it won’t happen again until 2244. While most cicada species appear annually, in America there are two periodical broods that spend either 13 or 17 years underground before emerging. Brood XIII emerges every 17 years and is limited to northern Illinois, eastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, and a few counties of extreme northwestern Indiana; meanwhile, Brood XIX appears on a slightly shorter cycle lasting 13 years in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The emergence is not simultaneous: it began in April for southern areas but will commence in June further northward.