This spring will be the first time in about two centuries that the U-S will see the emergence of two different broods of cicadas. One brood of insects emerges from the ground every 17 years and the other every 13 years. University of Iowa biology professor Andrew Forbes stood in a forested area near Coralville and said that the cicadas will emerge sometime within the next month.
Forbes says Iowa is only going to see one brood emerge and Illinois is about the only place in the Midwest that will see both at the same time. Forbes is still excited, even without the double emergence in eastern Iowa.
Forbes said it’s unlikely you’ll see too many cicadas in a suburban area. They’re mainly going to be in places that have been a forest and stayed a forest.
You will have to travel a bit if you want to hear the full effect of the double emergence. Forbes says it’ll be worth it.
The Cedar Rapids area will see those 17-year cicadas. The very far southeastern part of the state will see the ones that emerge every 13 years. The last time both cicada broods emerged at the same time was in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson was President.
