12:00 PM | Where are the cicadas?
Paul Dorian
Discussion
Maybe there is a bug in the program. Weeks ago entomologists predicted the 17-year cicada would blanket much of the eastern US, but so far that hasn’t happened and there are serious doubts as to whether it ever will happen north of the Pennsylvania/Maryland border. So far, there have been no serious sightings of the cicadas north of around central and northern Virginia despite the fact that ground temperatures around here have certainly passed the threshold of 65 degrees which was a requirement for the bugs to emerge. One entomologist was quoted recently as saying “I’m at a loss, I really don’t have a good explanation why we haven’t had any”, but another held out some hope saying “I predicted mid-June at the earliest so I’m not truly surprised”. Time is running out, however, and the prevailing sentiment among bug experts seems to be that if you haven’t seen any cicadas by now you probably won’t see any at all. So much for the cicada taco recipe.