Western end of state left out of this year's Kentucky cicada invasion

Another cicada invasion is peaking across most of Kentucky. 

The large Brood XIV, which emerges every 17 years, is making for a spectacular natural event as billions of periodical cicadas emerge across parts of the Eastern U.S., including in Georgia, southern Ohio, Kentucky, Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and Long Island, New York.

Western Kentucky is left out of this year's invasion for the most part. Cicadas are being sighted from Todd, Logan and Muhlenberg counties east to Bowling Green and the rest of the commonwealth, as well as the eastern two-thirds of Tennessee.

Last year it was the 13-year variety of Brood XIX that caused a cacophany in parts of western Kentucky and almost all of Illinos.

University of Kentucky entomologists have called them "The Bourbon Brood," since the state is basically the epicenter of this year's emergence of the largest among all the 17-year broods.

When spring warms the soil to 64 degrees Fahrenheit, the cicada nymphs dig their way up to the surface after their long development period.

The insects that last emerged in 2008 live for only a few weeks above ground. Males "sing" to attract females, who then lay eggs in tree branches. Once the eggs hatch, the young cicadas fall to the ground and burrow into the soil, where they'll remain until the spring of 2042.



(AP Photo Carolyn Kaster)