Georgia is preparing for a unique but limited appearance of periodical cicadas this spring, featuring insights from experts on their emergence.
According to Nancy Hinkle, an entomology professor at the University of Georgia, the cicadas will primarily affect four counties in the northeast and won’t make their way into larger cities like Atlanta. This year’s brood will start emerging in April 2025, as the ground warms up.
“Georgia is just barely included in the range of this year’s periodical cicada emergence,” she stated in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The Georgia counties most likely to see cicadas are Fannin, Lumpkin, Rabun, and Union counties. While cicadas will generate noise in these regions, they are not expected to emerge in the metro Atlanta area.
This spring, the cicada emergence will encompass areas across Tennessee and Kentucky, stretching as far north as Ohio and as far south as Georgia. Smaller concentrations are anticipated along the East Coast up to Massachusetts. Within about two months, the cicadas will disappear.
This group of cicadas constitutes the second-largest periodical brood after the Great Southern Brood, named Brood XIX, which emerged in Georgia and surrounding states in 2024. Hinkle noted, “There were billions of them, so there were areas where they were so concentrated that they actually produced a racket that people found annoying.” Fortunately, this year will be different, as officials estimate fewer cicadas will emerge, ensuring a less overwhelming experience for residents.
Evan Lampert, a biology and entomology professor at the University of North Georgia, joined in the conversation about cicada sounds. As he explained, those in the areas affected by the emergence may hear mating calls ranging from 50 to 80 decibels, producing quite the chorus. “It’s a very loud sound that they’ll hear basically all day long,” he said.
Unlike the annual cicadas that can be heard each summer, these black, red-eyed periodical cicadas only emerge every 13 to 17 years, depending on their brood. After emerging, they crawl out of the ground to shed their outer layers, then take to the trees. Males sing to attract females, who then lay eggs in tree bark. The adult cicadas die shortly afterward, and their bodies return to the earth to foster the next generation—set to return in 2042.
Hinkle describes periodical cicadas as “perfectly harmless,” noting they don’t bite or sting and don’t cause any destruction to gardens. For those interested in civic science, they can assist in tracking these cicadas by sharing pictures and locations with Cicada Safari, a community research initiative. Lampert emphasized the challenges researchers face in mapping cicada broods. “There’s really weird boundaries between some of these broods, and sometimes they emerge at weird times,” he noted, underscoring the importance of public participation in monitoring cicada appearances.
Later in the summer, annual cicadas will also emerge, with August being the prime time to hear them throughout Georgia. “Those are the big ones that you hear every afternoon when you get home from work just before sunset,” Hinkle shared. “They’re always singing late in the afternoons, and it’s just the sound of summer to most of us.”
The cicada emergence, while modest in scale this year, will provide a chance for many Georgia residents to appreciate the unique biological phenomenon and the accompanying sounds heralding the arrival of spring. As the ground warms, anticipation builds for the fleeting opportunity to witness this natural event, bringing with it a reminder of the cycles of nature and the patience required for the next generation of cicadas to emerge in the years to come.
