Iowans May Not Hear The 17-Year Cicada in 2021
It seems like every year we hear the buzz of the "17-year" cicada, but according to KWQC and experts at Iowa State University, the noisy bugs will not be in either Iowa or Illinois in 2021, which has many people split.
For better or worse it looks like only select parts of the Midwest will be seeing and hearing the cicadas this year, and we won't be hearing them for a while after either.
Donald Lewis is a professor and extension entomologist at Iowa State and he stated,
There has been and will be a tremendous amount of media attention to periodical cicadas this year because they are emerging in major media markets. The bad news is that the periodical cicadas will NOT emerge in Iowa this year.
Experts are also saying that there will be a limited emergence in 2024, but nothing too big until 2031.
There is a chance we will be hearing the loud cicadas this year, but many are saying that only some parts of the Midwest and the east coast will be seeing these bugs this year.
Many people are split on whether they like the bugs, or not. Some see them as annoying, while others see them as a fun sign of summer. I myself have never LOVED the noise of the cicadas, but after the first few weeks, they are no longer annoying to me. At that point, it's nice background noise. It'll be weird not to hear the calls of the bugs this year while we keep our windows open here in the Midwest.