The return of spring provides plenty of reasons to be excited. There’s the chance to get your garden ready for growing season, the chance to pick back up on your favorite outdoor activities… and an onslaught of super noisy insects? That’s right: Millions of cicadas are poised to make a major resurgence this season as they emerge from the ground after more than a decade of slumber. And while their trademark sound might be synonymous with warmer weather, people across vast swaths of the U.S. can expect to be inundated with the bugs soon.
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What is Brood XIV?
Anyone who has lived through a cicada-heavy summer likely knows the insects appear in 17-year waves. Some years can be worse than others, including last year’s "cicada apocalypse" that involved two different broods springing forth at once.
While there’s no double cohort this year, 2025 will see the emergence of Brood XIV—also known as Brood 14—as temperatures warm up. The last time this group emerged was back in 2008, and it is the second-largest periodical brood on record, ABC News reports. The billions of expected bugs will also be joined by their slightly smaller and green-colored annual counterparts that show up every year.
Which states will see cicadas emerge this spring and summer?
Cicadas enjoy a relatively broad habitat, and this year will be no different. Coincidentally, 14 states are expected to see Brood 14 emerge, USA Today reports:
- Georgia
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- North Carolina
- New Jersey
- New York
- Ohio
- Pennsylvania
- South Carolina
- Tennessee
- Virginia
- West Virginia
The emergence won’t be entirely uniform, with some counties expected to see larger droves than others. John Cooley, PhD, an entomologist at the University of Connecticut, tells USA Today that the greatest numbers in 2025 will likely show up in Tennessee and Kentucky, adding that there could also be heavy swarms in parts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.
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When will the cicadas start to emerge?
Cicada "Double Brood" Will Descend on These 16 States Next MonthiStock
It’s not a coincidence that cicadas are linked with spring and summer. According to the Cicada Mania tracking website, this brood starts to emerge around the time when the temperature six to eight inches below the soil hits 64 degrees Fahrenheit.
Once this happens, you might begin to notice small holes appear in the ground as nymphs head for the big, bright world above the surface. They’ll then look for anything they can climb, including a tree, fence post, or exterior home wall, where they will then shed their outermost layer of skin and enter their adult phase, Tamra Reall, an entomologist at the University of Missouri, tells ABC News. She adds that while the beginning phases might be "just like out of a sci-fi movie," it can still be "magical" to witness the later phases of the bugs’ metamorphosis.
According to Gene Kritsky, founder of Cicada Safari, the initial emergence phase lasts for about two weeks after it begins. "Once they start coming out at a specific location, that starts the clock. You’ll have cicadas at that location for the next six weeks," he tells USA Today.
It can be difficult to pinpoint precisely when cicadas will start peeking their heads out in different locations. However, Kritsky says you can probably expect them first in northern Georgia around the third week of April, followed by South Carolina and southern Tennessee the following week.
Then, they’ll likely start springing up during the first week of May in western Virginia, northern Tennessee, and central Ohio before finally starting to spring up in West Virginia, southern Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts, and northern Kentucky by the second or third week of May, USA Today reports. Annual cicadas will take a bit longer to pop up, usually waiting until the hottest days of August and July to come above ground.
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Are cicadas dangerous, or do they pose a problem for yards?
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Whether you’re squeamish about bugs or not, the idea of billions of insects invading your yard might not seem like a great kick-off to your summer. But besides the drone of their noisy call, there’s nothing much else to the overwhelming emergence.
"People tend to be terribly afraid of insects, and these guys are big, but they are harmless," Jody Gangloff-Kaufmann, an entomologist and associate director at the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program at Cornell University, told ABC News.
But what about your carefully curated garden and yard? Fortunately, unlike other pests, cicadas are just as harmless to plants as they are to humans. Reall points out that the holes created by the bugs' emergence can help improve moisture and drainage, while the cicadas’ egg-laying activity can help to naturally prune trees and plants as part of a natural cycle. Besides that, the entire thing is a relatively rare spectacle that’s worth checking out.
"If you're lucky enough to live in an area where the cicadas are and you’ve got kids, take them outside during the night," Kritsky told USA Today. "Let them see this. This is a once-in-a-generation activity. They'll never forget it."
