Cicadas ready to end 17 years of silence.
Some snippets from the article:

“While her husband complains about the horrible crunching sound of trapped cicadas under his lawn mower, she said the sound of cicadas brings back memories of her childhood in Alabama.”

They were last here in 1987. Honestly I don’t remeber that strain too well. I do remember the 1985 swarm. That must have been the 13 year variety. I distinctly remember in 4th grade some kid (Lee Moore) bringing in a hatching cicada to class. “Shuuush It’s hatching.” he said. It wasn’t a science experiment. It wasn’t part of biology lab. It was some kid bringing in a bug and setting it on his desk to watch it hatch. Kinda gross. But we were all fasciniated by it, even though we had probably seen a hundred of their shells lying around.
I’m kinda not looking forward to this Spring. Yet I don’t remember the 1998 13 year swarm or the 1987 swarm. I guess I wasn’t outside as much as before. When you’re in elementary school and you get at least one hour each day outside, you tend to notice swarms of red eyed insects in your playground. In 7th grade you don’t. You come in from school and spend the rest of the night doing homework inside.