JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WJAC) — You’ve probably heard by now that a massive swarm of 17-year cicadas are expected to emerge from the ground in parts of western Pennsylvania this spring.
Well, where are they?
Cicada experts have designed an app to answer just that.
The free app is called Cicada Safari, and it allows users to track, photograph and map the interesting insects.
"Periodical cicadas are bugs of history," Dr. Gene Kritsky said in a press release.Kritsky is the dean of behavioral and natural sciences at Mount Saint Joseph in Cincinnati and has studied cicadas throughout his academic career. He also helped create the app.
"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," Kritsky said.The swarm emerging this year is known as Brood VIII, and people can expect to see them in parts of West Virginia, northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania starting in mid-May.
According to Kritsky, the cicadas will begin emerging when the temperature of the soil exceeds 64 degrees.
Cicada years are good for the ecology of the region – cicadas don’t sting or bite, and they don’t carry any diseases, according to Kritsky.
As of May 15, on the Cicada Safari app, several users have posted pictures of cicadas that have already emerged near Pittsburgh.
If you see any cicadas, you can help document them by downloading Cicada Safari in the app store and then uploading your pictures for inclusion in the 2019 cicada map.
For more information on cicadas, you can visit Kritsky’s webpage here.
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