Cicada-pocalypse Michigan: Double Brood to Hatch BILLIONS of Bugs

They're coming to Michigan. Billions of them. Think of the summer of 2024 as the summer you and your neighbors host the loudest, messiest, most obnoxious guests for the first half of the season.

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Two broods of 'periodical cicadas' will hatch at the same time since Thomas Jefferson sat in the Oval Office and together, these broods will make this a high-pitched summer to remember. Communities throughout Michigan and the Midwest are preparing for this historic hatch.

Michigan's Cicada-pocalypse 2024: Brood X, Meet Brood XIII

This event, over two centuries in the making, is made possible by math and a species 1.8 million-year will to survive. Cicada Brood XIII, which emerges every 17 years, and Brood XIX which is on a 13-year cycle, have mathematically lined up and 2024 is the year they both come out to take care of business at the same time.

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The hatch will occur sometime in April, once the ground conditions are perfect and the cicadas have finished their transformation from nymph to winged cicada. Once that happens get ready for 13 to 17 years of cabin fever to be unleashed upon Michigan.

Cicadas Are Loud But Harmless

That ear-piercing hum that accompanies cicadas is coming from the guys exclusively. That is their way of saying 'I'm single and ready to mingle'. Once they've mated, female cicadas go about the business of laying eggs, with only a few weeks to live the above-ground life before they die.

Related: Michigan Stink Bugs: To Squish or Not to Squish?

Once the next generation of Brood XIX and XIII are born, they will crawl into the dirt, where they will spend the next 17, to 13 years of their lives, before repeating the cycle. So get ready, Michigan. The good news is that cicadas don't bite humans, but they're still two inches long and have prickly feet. It's gonna be a long, loud, crawly start to our Pure Michigan Summer.