If you’re living in eastern North America, every 17 years it feels like apocalyptic times for a few weeks due to TRILLIONS of cicadas emerging from the ground. Well, that’s about to happen again in 2021 starting at the end of May.
“This is a remarkable opportunity for children of all ages – parents and their kids – to go out and enjoy a biological event that happens no where else in the universe except right here in eastern North America,” Michael Raupp, the Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of Maryland told FOX 17.
The heart of the emerging will be in Maryland and experts expect 1.5 million cicadas to emerge from the ground per acre. They will be headed straight to the tops of trees to make a once-in-a-life-time climb to find a mate.
The males will be singing as loud as they can to attract a female and with millions of them doing it at the same time it’s going to reach 80-100 decimals. That is equal to the sound of a loud lawnmower or jet aircraft flying over a person at full speed.
“There’s going to be battles,” Michael Raupp said.“There’s going to be birth, there’s going to be death, there’s going to be romance, there’s going to be sex in the treetops.”
Raupp suggests residents protect their trees with one-centimeter netting. If you plan on planting trees this year then he recommends doing it in the fall instead of the spring so the trees survive. The reason for this is because female cicadas like to target small trees to lay their young and this can cause branches to break off.
To learn more about “Cicada-Geddon” as Michael Raupp puts it, click on the video below to hear him explain in full detail how the event should unfold and give you insider information about the cicadas.