The cicadas are coming, possibly even earlier this year

As temperatures warm in North Carolina, the song of nature grows louder and louder. Birds are chirping earlier in the mornings, bees are buzzing around, and soon cicadas will add to nature’s symphony.

The cicada’s chorale is happening earlier and earlier each year.

According to the latest data analyzed by Climate Central, “the 10-day average temperature across the Brood X region is running 8 degrees warmer than at this time in 1970, and 1.1 degrees warmer than in 2004.”

Billions (yes, billions) of cicadas soon to emerge from underground

The Brood X is one periodical cicada out of 15. The Brood X emergence will most likely occur this year across the North Carolina mountains and in Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Indiana and western Ohio.

The last time they did so was 17 years ago.

Since 1984, the Brood X cicadas are emerging about 35 days earlier across the southern mountains of North Carolina.

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Cicadas typically emerge after a period of steady rain and when the soil temperature is over 64 degrees. That threshold value normally occurs in May. They rely on a lot of fluids to prevent dehydration.

"Periodical cicadas are bugs of history," Kritsky said. "They are generational events, and many people use the emergence to mark the passage of time, recall key events in their lives and just remember where they were and what they were doing the last time the cicadas came out."