Brace yourself: 2 cicada broods will emerge this year

(Gray News) – Billions of cicadas will take to the air this year as the life cycles of two different broods overlap for the first time in centuries, according to experts.

According to researchers at the University of Connecticut, Brood XIX, which is a 13-year brood and the largest of all periodical cicada broods, will emerge with Brood XIII. Both of these broods are adjacent to each other in northern Illinois.

The researchers said 13-year broods usually emerge in the same year as a 17-year brood every five to six years. These broods are usually not in contact with each other, however, and are spatially separated.

A co-emergence involving adjacent broods of two different life cycles only happens once about every 25 years, and two specific broods of different life cycles co-emerging only happens once every 221 years.

Experts say the upcoming co-emergence involving the specific broods of XIX and XIII is the first since 1803.

The next co-emergence won’t happen until 2037.

While the emergence of both cicada broods is a monumental event, the researchers said the two adjacent broods will be spatially separated and won’t significantly overlap each other during the breeding event.

What this means is that the density of the cicadas in a given area will not be more than when just one cicada brood emerges, despite there being two broods active this year.

While contact between the broods will be pretty rare, the experts said the most likely location for the two broods to meet will be Springfield, Illinois.

Although the number of periodical cicadas can be massive, experts said they are not considered pest insects and there is no need to use any sort of pesticide to deal with them.

For more information on periodical cicadas, visit the University of Connecticut’s website.