Sterling Locusts Return: 17-year Brood II cicadas will be back in May-- Peak By Memorial Day

Andrew Mollenbeck, of wtop.com reports (Sterling's) Brood II cicadas are getting the 17-year itch-- Memorial Day will be peak!

Later in the spring, this brood of periodical cicadas -- which surfaces every 17 years -- will swarm the East Coast from North Carolina to New York and farther north.

Cicada On Leaf

BROOD II NOT AS LARGE AS BROOD X

"This is a pretty good size brood, not as large as Brood X, which we saw back in 2004," says Michael Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland. "However, I think in the region there are going to be some local pockets of very, very brilliant cicada emergences."

Because of below-average temperatures, the cicadas will likely get off the ground the second or third week in May, Raupp says.

"I think by Memorial Day it's just going to be spectacular," he says. "There will simply be millions of these things in the tree tops, and the boys are going to be singing their hearts out."

DON'T FORGET MOTHERS DAY SUNDAY MAY 12