They are creepy and crawly, and coming this Spring, they'll be making a long-awaited appearance across a third of the United States. 

"They can have numbers up to one and a half million," says Dr. Gene Kritsky of Mount Saint Joesph University. 

Yes, that's one and a half million periodical cicadas PER ACRE that will be infesting parts of the Midwest and Southern states in a unique double emergence that hasn't occurred since 1803. Cicada broods 13 and 19 will make their way out of their underground homes for the first time in 13 and 17 years respectively. Dr. Gene Kritsky, who authored a book on this year's double emergence, says once they emerge it could be a flood of cicadas all at once.  


"They start emerging in big numbers once the soil temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit. My experience is, once that temperature threshold is reached and you get a nice soaking rain, not a big thunderstorm but just to soften things up, that triggers the massive numbers coming out," says Kritsky. 

Dr. Kritsky estimates that cicada calls can get as loud as 90 decibels, which is about 10 decibels louder than a plane flying overhead. While that's plenty loud, Kristsky says there's a glaring misconception with this year's event. 
 
"People might be thinking because two broods are coming out in this area there's going to be more cicadas in a particular zone and they are going to be even louder. It won't be like that because where cicadas emerge depends on the land use in the area. As we've seen in other states, the more clear-cutting for agricultural and clear-cutting for urban development has reduced cicada populations. So even though there might be a little bit of overlap there, there's not going to be that big of a patch where it would be double what you would see."
 
Don't worry, cicadas will be well to our west and south and pose no threat to Northeast Ohio or Western Pennsylvania. Kritsky says, that when cicadas do emerge their total travel distance is under a mile. he does add, that if you have cicada fever, Brood 14 will emerge in southern Ohio next year and Brood 5 will reemerge across eastern Ohio in 2033. 
 

Dr. Kritsky says one factor in helping experts track cicadas, is an app called Cicada Safari. He says that if you have family or friends who live in the emergence zone, have them download the app and send pictures of the cicadas where they are spotting them. The app will then be able to create a live map of where cicadas are emerging in real time.