The Valley is hopping, and not in the fun nightlife way. A startling number of grasshoppers have popped up across the Phoenix area this week, splattering windshields, piling in parking lots and unnerving commuters. Residents and drivers across the metro are posting photos and videos of the insects clinging to cars, doorways and desert landscaping in the early‑morning and evening hours. The sudden visibility, and the squeamish reactions to it, has people scrambling for an explanation.
Television cameras have captured just how intense it looks. On March 20, footage showed parking lots and parked cars practically coated in grasshoppers. As reported by FOX 10 Phoenix, reporter Taylor Wirtz walked viewers past windshields and shopping‑center lots dotted with insects, while neighbors told the station they were finding bugs stuck to their doors and windows. Those scenes mirror dozens of posts from residents around the Valley.
What’s driving the boom?
Experts are pointing to a familiar combo: the grasshopper life cycle and this spring’s growing conditions. The pallid‑winged grasshopper, a band‑winged species common in Arizona, typically hatches from late February through March. Outbreaks are often linked to above‑normal, well‑distributed rainfall that keeps eggs viable and fuels lush weed growth, according to a species fact sheet from LucidCentral. Local entomologists and extension specialists have drawn the same connection between wet winters, abundant weeds and noticeable grasshopper surges in past years, as KJZZ has reported.
Not locusts, just a seasonal surge…