Cicadas 2024

If you’re a human who works outdoors or just a human who had a yard full of Brood X cicadas (and a hard time with it) in 2021, you may have been sent info on this year's upcoming two-brood emergence by well-meaning friends trying to prepare you. Good news, though, for the cicada-wary folks in Ohio: this double dose is going to miss us by several states! 

The last time broods XIX and XIII emerged together was in 1803, so there’s a lot of coverage on this year’s double emergence. A total of 7 cicada species are represented between these two broods, which will be seen mostly in southeastern states and Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.  

Because they’ll overlap by several weeks in at least one state (Illinois), it’s likely that there will be mating between these broods and species. This could result in an entirely new brood of cicada! 

While we will see and hear our typical annual cicadas this season (they can be seen and heard throughout July and August), Ohio will not see periodical cicadas until 2025. Brood XIV will emerge in southern Montgomery County and throughout the southwestern part of the state. Brood X emerges in Ohio in 2038.

What’s that saying? “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now, so it has fourteen years to grow and won’t need to be netted when Brood X comes back around.”