East About To Be Overrun By Billions Of Cicadas

Associated Press ^ | May 6,2013 | Seth Borenstein

[Biggirl]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Any day now, billions of cicadas with bulging red eyes will crawl out of the earth after 17 years underground and overrun the East Coast. The insects will arrive in such numbers that people from North Carolina to Connecticut will be outnumbered roughly 600-to-1. Maybe more.

[hinckley buzzard]

good.

[TurboZamboni]

has Seth figured a way to blame this on global warming cooling climate change yet?

[livius]

I grew up in New York City and I remember the year that there was a “hatching” when I was a child (in the 1950s and early 60s). The trees in Riverside Park were covered with them and the nearby gutters were full of cicada shells. The thrumming noise in August was almost deafening.

But it was kind of neat, and I still remember that summer.

[exnavy]

Biblical proportions.

[TigersEye]

Cicada infestations boost nutrients for forests FR thread from 2004

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I remember those guys. Musta been 3 x 17 = 51 years ago, when I was growing up in NJ, in 1962, if my math is correct. Pretty loud at night; roads literally covered with them, cars even got into accidents because the roads were so slick with crushed cicadas, and driving down the street, cars made crunching noises from the crushed bugs. Afterwards, almost all the trees had thousands of empty cicada shells on them

[TigersEye]

Cicada ice cream sales come to end in Missouri FR thread from 2011

[Uncle Chip]

to be then followed by an infestation of moles.

[Carriage Hill]

Not nice critters:

[CatherineofAragon]

I despise bugs-—to a phobic degree.

I’m not looking forward to this. Wonder if it’s too late to dig a bunker?

[ansel12]

Cicadas in the East, rain today in Southern California, ammo shortages in Texas, Brie prices up in San Francisco, this is like the apocalypse.

[cripplecreek]

Time for a cheesy new SyFy channel movie.

Cicadapus

[allmendream]

I was there for the 17 year Cicadas (Washington D.C.) 34 years ago.

The noise where they nested up in the trees was positively industrial. Those were some LOUD bugs!

Buried for 17 years and they came out to PARTY and raise a ruckus!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

LOL!

[onedoug]

Keep ‘em in the North ping....

[Vendome]

Kewel ...

I use to pick em up and pretend I was using them as an electric razor....

[cripplecreek]

They don’t really do any real damage and the other critters feast for a few days.

[KarlInOhio]

I’m not looking forward to this. Wonder if it’s too late to dig a bunker?

Wonder if it’s too late to dig a bunker?

The cicadas have already conquered the underground and their larvae will find your bunker a nice play to hide for 17 years.