Billions of buzzing cicadas will emerge in parts of New York, New Jersey this spring: ‘Louder than jets’

Billions of cicadas in New York, New Jersey and 11 other states will come out of a 17-year-long hibernation in two months – and make their presence known with their famously noisy mating call, which is louder than a jet’s engine. 

The cicadas will begin to emerge as soil temperatures reach a consistent 64 degrees, typically around late April to mid-May, said entomologist Gene Kritsky.

The show up every 13 or 17 years, depending on their brood.

Last year, New York City and Long Island saw a rare co-emergence of Brood XIII, which emerge from the ground every 17 years, as well as 13-year cicadas from Brood XIX.

It’s unclear how many there will be this year when Brood XIV emerges, because the cicada population has dwindled in the Empire State over the past 34 years as overdevelopment has destroyed their habitat, said Kritsky. 

“Every cicada needs a large clump of trees, and as urban development and deforestation take place, those pockets of cicadas get smaller and smaller,” Kritsky said. “If it gets too small, the predators will eat them all and that will stop their populations.” 

Cicadas — big-eyed, winged insects that are typically around two inches long and are members of the same biological order as stink and bed bugs — may look ferocious but are harmless.

“People shouldn’t be afraid of the periodical cicadas because they don’t bite, they don’t sting, they don’t carry disease, they’re not a sign of filth, and they don’t carry away small children or pets,” said Kritsky, who founded Cicada Safari, which gathers data on the insects. 

However, cicadas can cause harm to young trees when the females lay their eggs in their branches, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, which advises covering maturing saplings in mesh or netting to keep the buggers out. 

Once they are mature, cicadas will stop feeding and live about a month – long enough to mate and lay their eggs. After reproducing, adult cicadas die. Six to 10 weeks later, the eggs hatch, and the baby nymphs will make their way underground, where they will remain for the next 17 years. 

They emerge en masse as part of a survival strategy – “so that birds, the dogs, the cats, the squirrels, the raccoons – all their predators can get their fill, and there are still millions of [cicadas] left,” Kritsky said

Kritsky has measured cicadas’ choruses at 102 decibels. “If you’re in the flight path for LaGuardia or JFK airports, cicadas can easily drown out the jets – those jets are usually around 80 decibels.”

And Brood XIV will make their presence known, as males’ piercingly-loud mating calls will begin within about a week of their emergence and continue for up to three weeks.