CHICAGO (WBBM) -- A cicada specialist says May 22nd could be the big day for the red-eyed, black bodied bugs to begin emerging the ground where they've been gearing up for the last 17 years.
WBBM's John Cody reports.
Entomologist Gene Kritsky says his formula based on average April ground temperatures puts this brood out of the ground towards the end of May.
The formula for emergence date is E = (19.465 - t)/0.5136, where E = the emergence start date in May and t = average April temperature.
He says the rule of thumb is once the ground temperature reaches 64 degrees with a good soaking rain, they'll be ready for romance in the trees.
Kritsky says they'll hard to mess in woods or city - their call has been recorded at 93 decibels -- louder than the ambient noise level for residents living in the O'Hare International Airport flight path.
He says while some don't particularly like the cicadas, everyone will remember them and he suggests the emergence is an excellent time for a wedding because you'll have the sound of the cicadas every 17 years to reinforce memories of the special moment.
Kritsky says he received a call from one woman who says she'll never forget the cicada emergence because that was the day she tried to remove one from her brother's nose with a baseball bat -- producing a broken nose both she and her brother remember well.
He says there are indications that cicadas are useful for orchard keepers because the cicadas act as a pruning team, eliminating weak branches in the search for a place to lay their eggs.
He says they're generally emerging a week earlier than he did when he started studying then 15 years ago. But he says that by itself isn't sufficient proof of global warming.
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