A Monster Once In A Lifetime Cicada Invasion Coming To Iowa

Two massive broods of Cicadas will invade parts of Iowa this spring and summer of 2024!

Two different broods of Cicadas have been burrowed underground for 13 to 17 years and this year they will both emerge at the same time.

Cicadas live underground for years eating and waiting.

Once they appear above ground they are looking to do what they have been waiting years to do...make a lot of noise and breed.

Iowa residents are accustomed to the presence and sounds of cicadas, but 2024 holds a unique occurrence for a particular group known as Brood XIII.

This periodical cicada brood last surfaced in 2017, and its next emergence is anticipated this year.

Simultaneously, Iowa will witness the appearance of another cicada brood, brood XIX, which last made an appearance in 2011.

Remarkably, these two broods have not simultaneously emerged since the year 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president.

For the most part, the overlap of these two Cicada broods in Iowa will be in the southeastern part of the state.

Should 2024 mirror the events of 2020, the initial cicada emergence will manifest in April and the overwhelming majority will arise during the final two weeks of May.

By the time Memorial Day weekend arrives, the cicada spectacle, dubbed the "cicadapalooza," will be in full force, resonating through the treetops across 18 states throughout the nation.

After the mating process, the female cicada carefully creates incisions within the branches of trees and deposits her eggs in the slits.

Approximately six to seven weeks later, the eggs hatch, and the newly emerged nymphs descend to the ground, burrowing into the soil to start the lifecycle process again.

The lifespan of the adult periodical cicadas is relatively brief, spanning a mere three to four weeks.