Cicadas to swarm southwestern Pennsylvania -- and it'll be louder than usual

PITTSBURGH — Few sounds, especially those heard only every couple of decades, create as much instant reaction from people as the mating call of the cicada.

In the coming days and weeks, billions of cicada will crawl up out of the ground and infest southwestern Pennsylvania. We asked bug expert Bob Davidson just how many we could see.

"There are documented records of one million to a million and a half per acre," he said. "But it's not like all of Allegheny County will have one continuous sheet of them."

For 17 years, Brood Eight, the brood of cicada most common to our area, has been underground, growing and feeding. Exterminator Tim Craft told us they have one purpose in mind.

"They breed," Craft said. "That's the key. The primary function of every organism that's out there is the continuation of its race."

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For the most part, they don't bother humans. They can target fruit trees and small saplings. If loud, droning insects are not your thing, don't worry. They'll stick around five or six weeks before their young burrow back into the ground, and they're gone. Here's the thing: you know exactly when they'll be back.

"I'm going to have trouble 17 hours from now figuring out where I'm supposed to be, and they know how to do it 17 years later," Craft said.

We have cicada in our area almost every year, but this brood is unique to southwestern Pennsylvania. They gather in clusters by the tens of thousands and have a much louder volume than our annual cicada.

Cox Media Group