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Police: Cicadas cause car crash in Ohio as Brood X swarms
Police in Cincinnati, Ohio responded after a car hit a pole on June 7th. The driver said he thinks a cicada flew inside the vehicle through the window and hit him in the face. Thankfully, the driver is fine and sustained only minor injuries, but the car was badly damaged. Brood X, as the cicada event is known, emerged from the ground after 17 years. The insects can be seen up and down the eastern and midwestern U.S. as the nation hits peak summer months.
Prepare to be extra bugged by cicadas in 2024.
For the first time in more than 200 years, two broods of cicadas will emerge after spending years underground, invading backyards in at least 17 U.S. states.
Two states, Illinois and Indiana, are likely to see both broods this year, according to Cicada Mania, a site dedicated to information about the insect with bulging red eyes.
FILE - Brood X, also known as the "Great Eastern Brood Cicada," seen in Pennsylvania in 2021. (Photo by Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
There are more than 190 known varieties of cicadas in North America and most species come out each year. But there are also periodical broods of cicadas that stay underground for either 13 years or 17 years.
The last time these specific groups — known as Brood XIII and Brood XIX — appeared at the same time was in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president, Ohio became the 17th state, and the U.S. purchased a massive amount of North American territory from France in a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase.
In other words, it’s been awhile.
"Nobody alive today will see it happen again," Floyd W. Shockley, an entomologist and collections manager at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, told the New York Times. "That’s really rather humbling."
Map: Where the double brood of cicadas where emerge
The two broods that will emerge simultaneously in 2024 are Brood XIX (the 13-year cicadas) and Brood XIII (the 17-year cicadas). A U.S. Forest Service map shows where both are typically located, indicated in brown and light blue. (Credit: U.S. Forest …
The 17-year-group, called Brood XIII, is shown in brown on the map above. This group is expected to emerge in the spring of 2024 in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and possibly Michigan, according to Cicada Mania.
The 13-year group, Brood XIX, is shown in light blue on the map, provided by the U.S. Forest Service. Brood XIX is also expected to emerge in spring of 2024 in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, according to Cicada Mania.
When will cicadas emerge in 2024?
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2016 video shows Ohio boy sweeping hundreds of cicadas off porch
In 2016, Brood V emerged from the ground after 17 years. This file video shows a boy in Mansfield, Ohio sweeping them off the family's front porch. Credit - Facebook/Richelle Smart via Storyful
Both broods typically start to emerge in mid-May when the soil gets warm enough, and stay through late June, Cicada Mania says.
"A nice, warm rain will often trigger an emergence," the website says.
This story was reported from Cincinnati.