Cicada Mania

Brood XXIII, the Lower Mississippi Valley brood, will emerge in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, in the spring of 2028.
Brood XXIII stragglers are emerging in 2024!
Brood XXIII last emerged in 2015.

About Brood XXIII:

Species:

The cicada species that will emerge are Magicicada tredecim (Walsh and Riley, 1868); Magicicada neotredecim Marshall and Cooley, 2000; Magicicada tredecassini Alexander and Moore, 1962; and Magicicada tredecula Alexander and Moore, 1962. These periodical cicadas have a 13-year life cycle.

All the counties/parishes:

Here is a list of the Counties where Brood IV periodical cicadas have appeared in the past. The data cames from the Cicada Central Magicicada Database(RIP).

• Arkansas counties: Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Chicot, Clark, Cleburne, Cleveland, Columbia, Conway, Craighead, Crawford, Crittenden, Cross, Dallas, Drew, Faulkner, Franklin, Fulton, Garland, Howard, Independence, Izard, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Marion, Mississippi, Monroe, Montgomery, Newton, Perry, Poinsett, Prairie, Randolph, Saline, Sebastian, St Francis, Stone, Union, Van Buren, Washington, White, Woodruff, Yell
• Arkansas cities: Bayou Deview Wildlife Management Area, Poinsett County, Devalls Bluff, Harrisburg, Holland Bottoms, Jacksonville, Jonesboro, Knox Co., Lake Hogue, Lake Poinsett State Park, Little Rock, and Wynne.
• Illinois counties: Alexander, Champaign, Clark, Crawford, DeWitt, Edwards, Jackson, Lawrence, Logan, Macon, McLean, Perry, Piatt, Pulaski, Randolph, Richland, St Clair, Union, Vermilion, Wabash, Williamson
• Illinois cities: Anna, Carbondale, Carterville, Chester, Clinton Lake, Giant City State Park, Marissa and Robinson.
• Indiana counties: Bartholomew, Clay, Daviess, Franklin, Gibson, Greene, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson, Knox, Lawrence, Parke, Perry, Pike, Posey, Putnam, Ripley, Spencer, Sullivan, Vanderburgh, Warrick
• Indiana cities: Harmonie State Park, Hymera, Leanne, Richland, Sullivan And Posey Counties.
• Kentucky counties: Ballard, Barren, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Clinton, Crittenden, Daviess, Fulton, Grant, Graves, Hardin, Hickman, Hopkins, Lee, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, Metcalfe, Muhlenberg, Ohio, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Warren, Webster
• Kentucky cities: Benton, Calvert City, Gilbertsville, Henry County, Murray, and Paducah.
• Louisiana counties: Bienville, Caddo, Caldwell, Catahoula, East Feliciana, Jackson, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Ouachita, Pointe Coupee, Richland, Tangipahoa, Tensas, Washington, Webster, West Carroll
• Louisiana cities: Bastrop, Choudrant, Grayson and West Monroe.
• Mississippi counties: Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, Covington, DeSoto, Franklin, Grenada, Hinds, Holmes, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jasper, Jefferson, Kemper, Lafayette, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tishomingo, Warren, Washington, Yalobusha, Yazoo
• Mississippi cities: Alva, Arlington, Booneville, Brandon, Clinton, Corinth, Desoto County, Florence, French Camp, Hernando, Holcomb, Houlka, Jackson, New Albany, Oxford, Potts Camp, Silver Creek, Tishomingo, and Water Valley.
• Tennessee counties: Carroll, Cheatham, Chester, Decatur, Dyer, Fayette, Gibson, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, Henderson, Henry, Humphreys, Lake, Lauderdale, Madison, Maury, McNairy, Montgomery, Obion, Rutherford, Shelby, Stewart, Tipton, Wayne, Weakley, Williamson
• Tennessee: Atoka, Benton, Cordova, Henry County, Huntingdon, Jackson, Lavinia, Leach, Lexington, McNeary County, Memphis, Paris, Savannah, and Speedwell.

More location tips:

• Read more about Brood XXIII on Cicadas @ UCONN (formerly Magicicada.org) and see their map of Brood XXIII (which is as good as it gets).
• Learn more about Periodical Cicadas.
• Back in 2002, the emergence began in the last week of April, 2002, and ended the beginning of July. You can read what people said about them back in April, May, and June of 2002.

Here are the locations where folks reported the cicadas to Cicada Mania in 2002:

Brood XIII Map from Marlatt, C.L.. 1907. The periodical cicada. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology:

The Latest (from 2015):

The most popular question in the comments: “how long will they last”. The typical answer is about 4 weeks of singing or less. They sing to meet a mate, and once they mate a few times, they run out of energy and die. Four weeks is the typical time, although this varies depending on the weather. The cicadas will complete their mission faster if there are drier, calm days in with temps in the 80s.

My gallery of photos from Brood XXIII.

The Giant City State Park area of Illinois was loaded with cicadas. This area has all four species. It isn’t easy to tell the difference between M. neotredecim and M. tredecim, but you might notice a difference in the coloration of their abdomens (tredecim is almost all orange, while neotredecim is orange and black). There is also a difference in the pitch of their calls when they are in close proximity, so you might hear an odd dissonance in their calls. M. tredecim pitches lower. I will post photos, videos and sounds later in the week.

There are plenty of cicadas in the Land Between the Lakes area of Kentucky & Tennessee. The best place so far was Kenlake State Resort Park where M. tredecassini, M. tredecula, and M. tredecim are chorusing. The tredecula and tredecim were up in the trees out of reach, but I was able to find a few tredecim (the bigger ones with very-orange abdomens) in the weeds at ground level.

Cold and rain (and road weariness) has prevented me from locating cicadas in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas — I know they’re there but if I can’t hear them, I can’t investigate. I’m headed north to Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois. Sun and temps in the 80s should make for good cicada observation. If you’re wondering why cicadas have suddenly become quiet, it’s typically because of cold temps and rain. Generally, these cicadas like it to be about 77F before they’ll fly and sing. Colder than that, and they’ll chill.

I arrived in the Jackson Mississippi area on May 19th around 3 pm. M. tredecassini were chorusing along route 20 west of Roosevelt State Park, and I found an M. tredecim (below) at a gas station. There were plenty of M. tredecassini and M. tredecula chorusing and courting in the woods behind the Mississippi Museum of Natural History. Neocicada hieroglyphica (a non-periodical cicada) was also calling in the woods.