![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Screen-Shot-2024-03-30-at-1.38.46-PM.png\")
<\/p>\nBy\u00a0Denise Chow
\nNBC News<\/p>\n
It\u2019s official: 2024 belongs to the cicadas.<\/p>\n
This spring, two different\u00a0broods of cicadas<\/a> \u2014 one that lives on a 13-year cycle and the other that lives on a 17-year cycle \u2014 will emerge at the same time from underground in a rare, synchronized event that last occurred in 1803.<\/p>\n Billions of the winged insects will make an appearance across the Midwest and the Southeast, beginning in some places in late April, for a raucous mating ritual that tends to inspire\u00a0fascination and annoyance in equal measure<\/a>.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s dual emergence is a once-in-a-lifetime event. While any given 13-year brood and 17-year brood can occasionally emerge at the same time, each specific pair will see their cycles aligned only once every 221 years. What\u2019s more, this year\u2019s cicada groups, known as Brood XIII and Brood XIX, happened to make their homes adjacent to one another, with a narrow overlap in central Illinois.<\/p>\n \u201cThomas Jefferson was president the last time these two broods came out, so is it rare? Yes,\u201d said Gene Kritsky, an entomologist at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati and author of \u201cA Tale of Two Broods,\u201d a book about this year\u2019s dual emergence that was published earlier this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n