Swarmageddon - Cicada Brood 2

[Sledgstone 8,672]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2013/04/02/176012068/sing-fly-mate-die-here-come-the-cicadas

 

http://inthecapital.streetwise.co/2013/04/09/cicadas-to-return-to-east-coast-up-to-a-billion-per-square-mile

 
http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/09/17676853-17-years-in-the-making-this-springs-cicada-invasion-generates-early-buzz?lite

 

After hanging around underground for 17 years, billions of flying bugs known as cicadas are due to sweep over the East Coast starting sometime in the next month. And although it's too early to predict exactly where or when the brood will appear, this spring's emergence should rate as the most closely watched bug-out in history.

"For entomophobes, this is the season of despair. For the entomophiles, this is the season of joy," said University of Maryland entomologist Michael Raupp, using highfalutin terms for bug-haters and bug-lovers.

The outbreak is expected to start in the Carolinas in April or early May, and work its way up northward to Washington, Philadelphia and New York by early June. Some observers have already reported the first signs of the emergence. The timing depends on the weather: Cicadas dig "escape chimneys" up from the ground where they've been maturing for the past 17 years — and when the temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius), that signals the insects to rise up, wriggle out of their shells, take wing and look for mates.

Be ready for the buzz
The bugs are mostly harmless to plants and humans. The worst a cicada can do is poke you with its pointy proboscis. But the 90-decibel buzz of a sky-darkening swarm can be a bit unnerving to the unprepared. Raupp recalls one harrowing tale from 1962's outbreak, when "the kids were shrieking in the playgrounds as cicadas divebombed them."

 

 

Anyone else in the path of these Cicadas? Just a few of these are annoying, but with this brood we're going to experience as many as 1 billion per square mile. This will be insanely loud times a few million:

 

[Myk JL 1,731]

Maybe I should stick to the bus if this is that big of a problem.

 

But as long as they can't get into my apartment I wouldn't worry much.

 

I should probably get an Air Conditioner just to be extra careful.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

If you get an air conditioner, make sure its a decent one that doesn't have styrofoam as part of it's construction. Styrofoam A/C units usually have gaps that bugs get through. They stop there to get a drink of water off the back of the window unit, and then wiggle through the cheap styrofoam and next thing I know, I have a random bee or wasp in the house. I doubt a cicada could get in tho.

 

Even though these bugs are only supposed to live for 4 weeks, I have a feeling they'll all hatch at random intervals and we'll get stuck with a never ending summer of noisy bugs.

[DeathscytheX 9,732]

I was in VA the last time those things were out. We collected millions of them. They are harmless and very stupid bugs. I've seen them fly into polls knocking themselves out.

 

I was around 13 years old, We filled up a mongo bat full of them.. took us probably 5-6 hours to do so, and then I found an unsuspecting neighborhood kid and slung tens of thousands of them upon him... they all clung to his clothing singing while he ran around screaming. X'D LMAO GLORIOUS!! 

 

If you cant remember Mongo Bat.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

LMAO. That sounds hilarious.

 

I feel bad for that kid tho.. you probably terrorized him.

 

Those bugs definitely are stupid. They don't even care where they land, sidewalks, on small twigs. Anything they can get a light grip on.

 

I was in school in Ohio last time they were out. Some class mate of mine always brought them in from the playground to watch them hatch out of their skins right in his desk. The teacher got suspicious when she heard chirping. They opened up the top drawer and found hundreds of skin husks. That guy was hording the husks like a small bug army.

[Myk JL 1,731]

If you get an air conditioner, make sure its a decent one that doesn't have styrofoam as part of it's construction. Styrofoam A/C units usually have gaps that bugs get through. They stop there to get a drink of water off the back of the window unit, and then wiggle through the cheap styrofoam and next thing I know, I have a random bee or wasp in the house. I doubt a cicada could get in tho.

 

Even though these bugs are only supposed to live for 4 weeks, I have a feeling they'll all hatch at random intervals and we'll get stuck with a never ending summer of noisy bugs.

 

The Air Conditioner I get will have to not rely on a window as I live on the 2nd floor. Last thing I need is it to fall & destroy someone's car.

[Sledgstone 8,672]

The Air Conditioner I get will have to not rely on a window as I live on the 2nd floor. Last thing I need is it to fall & destroy someone's car.

 

A portable air conditioner could work for you. It stays inside the house, but you still need to run it's heat exhaust to an outside window. Nothing will hang out the window and its safe, but those A/C units can be costly:

 

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog/servlet/Navigation?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&N=5yc1vZc4m4Z1xr5

 

Your landlord or building supervisor should be able to install a window A/C unit for you and secure it safely without charging you to do it. If a window unit falls out a window and causes damage or injury, the building owner would be liable for damages too.