WASHINGTON — After a loud few weeks, you can expect cicadas to be a little quieter Thursday. Why? Well, storms are moving into the area.
The D.C. region has experienced the aforementioned phenomenon a few times over the last month-and-a-half. When rain or cold weather has set up shop over the metro, the loud hum of cicadas has disappeared significantly.
There is a scientific reason for that, according to Dr. Samuel Ramsey, a research fellow with the United States Department of Agriculture.
“During these rainy periods and these cold snaps, you're seeing a really interesting aspect of the cicada’s biology,” he said. “Cicadas are what you can refer to as a cold-blooded organism, they get their energy from the outside environment and so they need that heat in order to run the apparatus that makes that that song that they produce to attract mates.”
Ramsey said cicadas are a lot heartier than people give them credit for.
“Consider Super Storm Sandy,” he said. “There was a brood of cicadas that actually emerged soon after the storm occurred in some of the areas that were hardest hit, where the sand and dirt were heavily eroded by the storm and there was a lot of flooding. People were concerned that the cicadas inside of the ground would have been heavily damaged by this [and] may have even potentially drowned in the flooding and somehow they were okay.”
Ramsey said as it gets cooler, cicadas tend to slow down their metabolic processes and look for parts of trees or very leafy areas that can provide them shelter. But they don’t stay in that mindset for long.
“Even after it's been very rainy, really stormy, with a lot of wind and all of the bluster, if the next day the sun is out, they can absorb that heat energy again, they will get right back at it,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey added you should not expect cicadas to live any longer due to rainy periods in the weather. While their metabolic processes do slow down, he said it ultimately may only give them a few extra hours of life.
With their short lifespan in mind, Ramsey asks the public to cherish the creatures while their humming and flying around the area.
“Find yourself some cicadas, even if you don't pick them up, just sit out there, have a picnic and listen to the symphony that they are providing to you,” he said. “They love music as much as we love music. You're hearing all around you a love song.”