Spring is around the corner and it’s about to get much noisier in North Carolina.
Scientists warn billions of cicadas will emerge in the U.S. starting in April. It’s a rare double brood emergence event that hasn’t happened since 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was President.
“When the soil temperature about eight inches down gets to be about 64 degrees, they’re going to start coming up,” explained Dr. Clyde Sorenson, Professor of
Entomology and Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University.
“They’re just waiting right now,” Sorenson added.
According to entomologists, there are seven different species of cicadas that will emerge in this event. Cicadas are in the same family as stink bugs and bed bugs.
Cicadas live in burrows until they’re mature enough to surface and it’s all to find a mate. The sound cicadas make is a mating call.
“The males are the ones that are making all the racket,” Sorenson said. “The predominant species sounds like he’s screaming ‘pharaoh’. It’s really high at a really high pitch. So, they say ‘pharaoh’ over and over and over about four hours a day until the right lady comes by.”