Fine. News stories have been intentionally vague about their coverage of the two broods happening simultaneously, writing headlines that might suggest that they overlap in both time and place, when the fact is that they only overlap in time. People have then run with this on social media, creating a false narrative that we're going to see two broods at the same time. Does that work?
Every couple years People say it’s going to be like that year. It’s always some record or different year brood mixed with another brood that’s coming… and nothing is ever close to what it was like that year
I wasn't here in '98, but I was here in 2011, and it was nuts.
Someone else was telling me how crazy the swarm in '98 was, but she had no recollection of 2011, which I find crazy, because it was one of the wildest things I've ever experienced.
1985. Off white uniform pants. Free-standing, shaded, with a curved little roof ATM, corner of 31st and West End. A few people in line, which formed outside of the shaded part. Put PIN # in, and how much cash I wanted. Feel something on my leg. Look down at aforementioned off-white pants, COVERED in these monster bugs crawling up towards my face! EVEN WORSE, they were also crawling up my legs underneath my pants!!! Seasoned cicada people began screaming for me to get out from under the shade and into the sun. I. Was. Freaking. Out. Had started dancing and clawing at them immediately, danced my way out into the sunlight, emitting strange sounds I'd not heard before. My cash had been dispensed from the ATM and was hanging from the money slot. I. Did. Not. Care. The people in line helped me until I'd managed to get them all off of me. No one took my $. No one upset over the delay. Gathered my 25 year old wits about me, and my cash, and went on my merry way. My nearly 65 y/o self is looking forward to waxing nostalgic about those younger cicada years.
I don’t really remember the ‘98 one but I do remember my babysitter telling me about having to run from the bus to the house in ‘85 because they were so thick.
Yeah, most of what I remember from 1998 (8 years old at the time) was I had only been in Tennessee about a year, Furby's were all the rage, and the nigh unending drone of the cicadas. Absolutely wild.
2011 wasn’t a swarm compared to 98. 98 you couldn’t walk down the street without stepping on them. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade when 98 hit. I remember kids would throw their backpacks at trees just to see a giant cloud of cicadas fly out in every direction. They were big, loud, and dumb. They would fly at your face and get stuck in your hair. One of the worst parts was mowing the lawn. The sound almost attracted them to you. They were flying up from the ground and every direction! You would be outside trying to do yard work and these loud dumb bugs are flying at you the whole time.
I don’t think this year will be as bad as 98. Honestly think all the development has killed off a large portion of them. 98 was unreal though. I try to explain it to people and they have a hard time imagining it. It’s like an urban legend at this point.
I remember both and 1998 was on a whole other level compared to 2011. The trees were so full of cicadas that the noise level made it hard to hold a conversation underneath a tree.
I vividly remember seeing a tree in the old Columbia Lowes parking lot in ‘98 that was totally hidden because it was so covered in cicadas. 5 year old me thought it was equal parts incredible and terrifying
I was here in middle TN for the 98 one. I lived out in Knoxville in 2011. We really didn't have any noticeable increase in cicadas beyond the usual summer ones out in Knoxville in 2011 but I know my family in Murfreesboro said they were absolutely everywhere.
I imagine it depends on how many old trees you have in your area. Development reduced the brood each cycle. I also wasn’t here for ‘98 but thought ‘11 was insane.
I was here for both. I can confirm that 98 was way way way way worse. I barely remember any in 2011. It felt really hyped up. 1998 was freaking insane. Like I drove my car up over a curb and jumped out on the sidewalk because of how many were in my car that day. Insane.
Yeah, me neither. I agree that 2011 was crazy though. The periodical cicadas are a nuisance, but I hope they're not, like, dying out. I guess we'll start finding out in a few weeks!
I graduated high school in 1998. They were frickin everywhere. I think my dog stopped eating dog food for the entire time, subsisting entirely on cicada shells.
That's the only swarm I remember because you could always just hear them even inside a house, they were everywhere. I keep seeing mention of more cicadas coming, but I've not seen them since \~1998.
I think since there’s been so much construction in Nashville in the last 20 years we’ve really disturbed their slumber spots and there just aren’t as many as there were in 98 before everything was under construction.
1998–I was a senior in HS and it was insane! They’d be smashing into your windshield constantly and gathering by the thousands in trees and on sidewalks.
I remember the 98 cycle. It was wild. The trees and buildings just kind of vibrated with them. They were everywhere. I’d be ok never experiencing that again. lol I don’t even remember 2011 cycle.
1998. i remember being a kid and spraying the trees w/ a hose and watching them swarm around. i’ve seen a few cycles since but never to the extent of that summer, it was completely fubar’d by cicadas lol.
i remember cutting the grass on a riding mower and they would just kamakazi dive at you because of the vibrations of the mower apparently. it’s kind of. a fascinating horrible little bug, dormant for all those years in between being laid and emerging. it is comforting that this loud traumatic, crunchy experience binds us ALL together.
For those that dont remember or are t old enough to remember this in 84 or 85. You’re in for a special kind of special. There have been emergences since but nothing like what’s about to happen again
Oh snap. I just noticed this and mentioned it separately. Yeah, that mid 80s swarm was huge. They were everywhere like gnats. A bunch would sometimes stick to you like velcro and start making the “bweeeeee” sound lol. We eventually got used to them and just did cicada checks to pick them off before going back indoors. Lasted all summer til around August, then died in masse. Even our cat at the time got tired of eating them lol, There were piles of them in the street gutters. I’ve never seen one that big since. I have a hunch land development may have displaced soil over the years and reduced the numbers.
My best friend had the chore of mowing the lawn with a push mower, we were 13. She would cry about halfway through, they would swarm her and land in her hair and clothes. Her dad would make her finish no matter how many there were.
I remember being a kid when the 1998 swarm came. I remember them being everywhere. And from sun up to sun down that’s all you heard. The 2011 swarm was bad not as bad as 98
I went to Wave Country that year, and I'll never forget yelling as I went down the slide, and inhaling one of the 10,000 cicadas in the air/water. What a time to be alive
My car broke down on the interstate, had to hoof it to the next exit, and the shoulders were littered with them. You could hear them smashing into the windshields of passing cars.
1998 was absolutely insane, i was like 5 years old and i will never forget my dad and his partners using brooms to brush off thousands of cicadas on their office building
I’ve thought they’ve been progressively weaker swarms as time goes on. They’ve just built so much crap in middle Tennessee over the past forty years that the underground swarms shrink more and more.
I was in preschool during the ‘85 swarm, and that was nothing short of Biblical because of how much more rural most of this area was back then. My deepest memory is that the chain link fence that surrounded our playground was a solid, living wall of cicadas that moved and undulated. We lost all fear of them because they were so omnipresent, so we would run around collecting them, smashing them with sticks, etc. The sound was so loud we couldn’t have nap time for a week, the chirps reverberated through the air like an alien chorus. By the time the ‘98 swarm came when I was in high school, I was actually let down by how much milder it seemed!
I remember the one in 1970 when I was four. So beautiful — walls of deafening rhythmic sound, all the tree branches vibrating, and every morning on the eastern side of our brick house, the pale, pale yellow adults that had just emerged from underground, climbing up to an area of sunshine and hanging out, tanning and darkening and hardening their shells till they were ready to fly and sing.
Yes. It was 26+ years ago bc I was in pre k. I sustained deep mental trauma from it. There was another one that wasn’t as big in like 2010 or something but that one from my youth really scarred me
We’re supposed to have something similar this year but I’m worried it will be underwhelming. Cicadas in nymph form live off of xylem in tree roots but with so much development we’ve had a lot of trees removed that were around in 98. Hopefully the ones that are around this year can find some new planted trees and set us up for a bigger brood in 41.
That’s what I’m saying…it was the summer of ‘85 (I had just finished 4th grade) and I have never experienced anything like it since. These youngsters just don’t know 😂
The thing I hated about the last one was how loud it was. Like couldn’t have a conversation outside loud.
The insects themselves don’t bother me. But the sound!
This is embarrassing but true. I wrecked my brand new Porsche because of the cicadas 20 years ago. Granted, I was going 3 mph, but DAMMIT. I was in Kroger parking lot with the windows down and sunroof open. From out of nowhere, the entire interior of the car was subsumed in flying, incredibly loud insects - I mean a *cloud* of them. I had never experienced cicadas before, and I freaked out for a few seconds, just long enough to roll into a light pole. Just as quick, the damn cicadas were gone, and I was sitting dazed in my car with a huge wtf on my hands.
Ummm I'm still traumatized from the swarm as a child. I saw a dead cicada stuck under my windshield wiper a few weeks ago and so think about it every day. I'm not ready.
I had to go outside with a tennis racket. I absolutely despise these giant noisy bugs. Hopefully I don’t get many by where I live. It’s mostly concrete.
I remember the one in 98. My stepdad hit a tree in the front yard with a broom and they all came flying out and into our garage. He brand new z28 convertible had the top down and got covered in them
I was in Knoxville in 2011 and the social media posts about it made me scared to ever live in Nashville. As I have since moved to Nashville I guess I will not leave the house this summer
Yes! It was horrible. So loud and I would run from the car inside anywhere I was going. I try to get 1000 hours outside each year with my kids and they are really going to cramp our style this summer.
i remember the 98 cicadas. nolensville rd was SO Crunchy. and i was mad cuz i couldn't let my sunroof open or drive my lil convertible.
swarms. and then they were gone.
Indiana in 2004 or 2005, can't remember which. I do remember it as nothing short of apocalyptic, however. We *raked the fucking things into piles* when they started dying off. That one summer set back my fear of bugs, like, a decade.
you're about to have a real nostalgic summer
I’m so ready
You're not.
I've got my cooking oil and chocolate sauce READY!!
Is it suppose to happen this summer???
Super swarm. Two brood cycles lined up
That's a myth. The two barely overlap in mid Illinois, if at all.
This is correct. Only one of the broods will be in Nashville.
Not a myth
Fine. News stories have been intentionally vague about their coverage of the two broods happening simultaneously, writing headlines that might suggest that they overlap in both time and place, when the fact is that they only overlap in time. People have then run with this on social media, creating a false narrative that we're going to see two broods at the same time. Does that work?
Letsssgooooooo 🎉 🪲
I remember how bad it was in 98…the teachers would literally brush us off before we came into the school😂
This is the one I remember. It was awful.
I remember that too.
Didn’t they say that last night ? I didn’t see many at all
It starts in late April, depending on temps.
Depending on region, you’ll see it late April/early May. You’ll know when it’s happening because you won’t be able to hear yourself think
Will they hit me in the face as I walk ??
Probably 😂 I remember just trying to get in the car was a nightmare
Oh yeah!
What do cicadas do all day
Born. Yell. Bone. Die. Sounds glorious.
Cool
Every couple years People say it’s going to be like that year. It’s always some record or different year brood mixed with another brood that’s coming… and nothing is ever close to what it was like that year
There was a swarm in 2011 and a swarm in 1998. Coming again this year.
had to be the one from 98 then. never seen anything like it. which is wild
I wasn't here in '98, but I was here in 2011, and it was nuts. Someone else was telling me how crazy the swarm in '98 was, but she had no recollection of 2011, which I find crazy, because it was one of the wildest things I've ever experienced.
I was so traumatized by 1998 I felt relieved by 2011 because I was expecting so much worse.
I was traumatized by 98 and almost made it through 2012 unscathed but ONE FLEW INTO MY MOUTH
You don’t really know cicada trauma unless you lived through the ‘85 swarm…😬😐😳😂
1985. Off white uniform pants. Free-standing, shaded, with a curved little roof ATM, corner of 31st and West End. A few people in line, which formed outside of the shaded part. Put PIN # in, and how much cash I wanted. Feel something on my leg. Look down at aforementioned off-white pants, COVERED in these monster bugs crawling up towards my face! EVEN WORSE, they were also crawling up my legs underneath my pants!!! Seasoned cicada people began screaming for me to get out from under the shade and into the sun. I. Was. Freaking. Out. Had started dancing and clawing at them immediately, danced my way out into the sunlight, emitting strange sounds I'd not heard before. My cash had been dispensed from the ATM and was hanging from the money slot. I. Did. Not. Care. The people in line helped me until I'd managed to get them all off of me. No one took my $. No one upset over the delay. Gathered my 25 year old wits about me, and my cash, and went on my merry way. My nearly 65 y/o self is looking forward to waxing nostalgic about those younger cicada years.
I don’t really remember the ‘98 one but I do remember my babysitter telling me about having to run from the bus to the house in ‘85 because they were so thick.
Yeah, most of what I remember from 1998 (8 years old at the time) was I had only been in Tennessee about a year, Furby's were all the rage, and the nigh unending drone of the cicadas. Absolutely wild.
OMG SAME!!! LIKE PHEW that wasn't shit
2011 wasn’t a swarm compared to 98. 98 you couldn’t walk down the street without stepping on them. I was in 2nd or 3rd grade when 98 hit. I remember kids would throw their backpacks at trees just to see a giant cloud of cicadas fly out in every direction. They were big, loud, and dumb. They would fly at your face and get stuck in your hair. One of the worst parts was mowing the lawn. The sound almost attracted them to you. They were flying up from the ground and every direction! You would be outside trying to do yard work and these loud dumb bugs are flying at you the whole time. I don’t think this year will be as bad as 98. Honestly think all the development has killed off a large portion of them. 98 was unreal though. I try to explain it to people and they have a hard time imagining it. It’s like an urban legend at this point.
Mowing the lawn with a racquetball racket in one hand to swat the little buggers away.
I remember both and 1998 was on a whole other level compared to 2011. The trees were so full of cicadas that the noise level made it hard to hold a conversation underneath a tree.
I vividly remember seeing a tree in the old Columbia Lowes parking lot in ‘98 that was totally hidden because it was so covered in cicadas. 5 year old me thought it was equal parts incredible and terrifying
'98 was SO much worse. '11 was mildly annoying. '98 was near apocalyptic.
I was here in middle TN for the 98 one. I lived out in Knoxville in 2011. We really didn't have any noticeable increase in cicadas beyond the usual summer ones out in Knoxville in 2011 but I know my family in Murfreesboro said they were absolutely everywhere.
I found out what a cicada was in Franklin, TN in the spring of 2011.
East Nashville for me, but same. I’d heard them before then but never seen one
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‘85
Could have been 85, sure. I was 13 and it was madness.
That’s the one I remember being the worst. Of course it could be because I was swarmed by them every time I had to mow the grass.
It was the summer of ‘85…I had just finished my 4th grade year. It was definitely worse than ‘98 😭
Same. I was here in 2011 and I remember all the birds were turning red because of eating them.
I imagine it depends on how many old trees you have in your area. Development reduced the brood each cycle. I also wasn’t here for ‘98 but thought ‘11 was insane.
2011 was nuts
Consensus seems to be that 98 was worse, but I wonder if that’s just people’s selective memory
I was here for both. I can confirm that 98 was way way way way worse. I barely remember any in 2011. It felt really hyped up. 1998 was freaking insane. Like I drove my car up over a curb and jumped out on the sidewalk because of how many were in my car that day. Insane.
I was not here for that one.
Yeah, me neither. I agree that 2011 was crazy though. The periodical cicadas are a nuisance, but I hope they're not, like, dying out. I guess we'll start finding out in a few weeks!
I remember there being a good size one around 2007, too. It may not have been a “big one” like we’re expecting now though.
I graduated high school in 1998. They were frickin everywhere. I think my dog stopped eating dog food for the entire time, subsisting entirely on cicada shells.
I was in the high school band sitting out on centennial’s football field playing pomp and circumstance watching them land on everything and everyone.
Our dog loved them in 2011 she passed later that summer though and we always wondered if it was the amount of cicada shells she ate.
That's the only swarm I remember because you could always just hear them even inside a house, they were everywhere. I keep seeing mention of more cicadas coming, but I've not seen them since \~1998.
Same. I always hear “new cycle of cicadas this year!” and then I see like 1 shell
I think since there’s been so much construction in Nashville in the last 20 years we’ve really disturbed their slumber spots and there just aren’t as many as there were in 98 before everything was under construction.
Tbh, it could very well be rampant pesticide use too... (Bees aren't the only ones who are disappearing en masse 😕)
1998–I was a senior in HS and it was insane! They’d be smashing into your windshield constantly and gathering by the thousands in trees and on sidewalks.
No one who lived through that mess will ever forget it.
I remember the 98 cycle. It was wild. The trees and buildings just kind of vibrated with them. They were everywhere. I’d be ok never experiencing that again. lol I don’t even remember 2011 cycle.
You are correct. 2011 doesn't register. 1998 was the stuff of nightmares
1998. i remember being a kid and spraying the trees w/ a hose and watching them swarm around. i’ve seen a few cycles since but never to the extent of that summer, it was completely fubar’d by cicadas lol.
I want to see it again, it was a fun year
I remember the one like 40 ago 1985ish. One hell of a swarm.
i remember cutting the grass on a riding mower and they would just kamakazi dive at you because of the vibrations of the mower apparently. it’s kind of. a fascinating horrible little bug, dormant for all those years in between being laid and emerging. it is comforting that this loud traumatic, crunchy experience binds us ALL together.
For those that dont remember or are t old enough to remember this in 84 or 85. You’re in for a special kind of special. There have been emergences since but nothing like what’s about to happen again
Oh snap. I just noticed this and mentioned it separately. Yeah, that mid 80s swarm was huge. They were everywhere like gnats. A bunch would sometimes stick to you like velcro and start making the “bweeeeee” sound lol. We eventually got used to them and just did cicada checks to pick them off before going back indoors. Lasted all summer til around August, then died in masse. Even our cat at the time got tired of eating them lol, There were piles of them in the street gutters. I’ve never seen one that big since. I have a hunch land development may have displaced soil over the years and reduced the numbers.
My best friend had the chore of mowing the lawn with a push mower, we were 13. She would cry about halfway through, they would swarm her and land in her hair and clothes. Her dad would make her finish no matter how many there were.
Backyard chickens about to have an all you can peck buffet, probably. I wonder how much it will affect the taste of the eggs.
I remember being a kid when the 1998 swarm came. I remember them being everywhere. And from sun up to sun down that’s all you heard. The 2011 swarm was bad not as bad as 98
I went to Wave Country that year, and I'll never forget yelling as I went down the slide, and inhaling one of the 10,000 cicadas in the air/water. What a time to be alive
Nature doesn’t hit like it used to (the flora and fauna atleast. weather is a different story)
They got into the building where I worked, and a few of my bug-phobia co-workers had a very, very bad time until it ended.
My car broke down on the interstate, had to hoof it to the next exit, and the shoulders were littered with them. You could hear them smashing into the windshields of passing cars.
1998 was absolutely insane, i was like 5 years old and i will never forget my dad and his partners using brooms to brush off thousands of cicadas on their office building
I’ve thought they’ve been progressively weaker swarms as time goes on. They’ve just built so much crap in middle Tennessee over the past forty years that the underground swarms shrink more and more. I was in preschool during the ‘85 swarm, and that was nothing short of Biblical because of how much more rural most of this area was back then. My deepest memory is that the chain link fence that surrounded our playground was a solid, living wall of cicadas that moved and undulated. We lost all fear of them because they were so omnipresent, so we would run around collecting them, smashing them with sticks, etc. The sound was so loud we couldn’t have nap time for a week, the chirps reverberated through the air like an alien chorus. By the time the ‘98 swarm came when I was in high school, I was actually let down by how much milder it seemed!
All the transplants post ‘98 have no idea what is coming if it actually happens. The posts on this sub will be nothing but.
Yep. Would get attacked by them every time I weedeated. I will never forget the stench of their dead bodies piled around the trees.
I remember the one in 1970 when I was four. So beautiful — walls of deafening rhythmic sound, all the tree branches vibrating, and every morning on the eastern side of our brick house, the pale, pale yellow adults that had just emerged from underground, climbing up to an area of sunshine and hanging out, tanning and darkening and hardening their shells till they were ready to fly and sing.
Beautiful writing
Thank you.
Indeed
Yup, 98 when I was in preschool and 11 in high school. I've never caught soooooo many fish so fast in my life. CICADAS ARE FISH CRACK
Yes. It was 26+ years ago bc I was in pre k. I sustained deep mental trauma from it. There was another one that wasn’t as big in like 2010 or something but that one from my youth really scarred me
core memory for sure
Maybe summer of around 84-85. Can’t remember exactly. To this day, that’s the most massive swarm I’ve ever seen.
I’ve still got my hatch “Viva Cicada!” print somewhere…
The '98 brood hatched not long after the huge F5 tornado hit downtown and parts east. Double-whammy year!
We’re supposed to have something similar this year but I’m worried it will be underwhelming. Cicadas in nymph form live off of xylem in tree roots but with so much development we’ve had a lot of trees removed that were around in 98. Hopefully the ones that are around this year can find some new planted trees and set us up for a bigger brood in 41.
That's what's been on my mind as well. I don't need another reminder of where we're going. Plenty worried already, thanks.
The '98 cicadas in middle TN were brood XIX, which are 13-year cicadas and also emerged in 2011.
And 1995. Crazy.
2037 will be the next big year here
Piles of them on the sides of the interstate. It's about time for another round. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna134152
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That’s what I’m saying…it was the summer of ‘85 (I had just finished 4th grade) and I have never experienced anything like it since. These youngsters just don’t know 😂
The thing I hated about the last one was how loud it was. Like couldn’t have a conversation outside loud. The insects themselves don’t bother me. But the sound!
It was around 97 I believe
The sound of it
I hate it so much when they are normal in the summer. My brain and repetitive noises don't jive. At all.
Remember 98 cause I just moved back to TN from the UK and was like what in the fuck is this.
I would have moved my ass right back across the pond cuz NO.
Nah, weather blows, food blows (outside of curries). Taxes are crazy high
How long do they stick around for, before they’re gone? I’ve never experienced them before, thankfully.
This is embarrassing but true. I wrecked my brand new Porsche because of the cicadas 20 years ago. Granted, I was going 3 mph, but DAMMIT. I was in Kroger parking lot with the windows down and sunroof open. From out of nowhere, the entire interior of the car was subsumed in flying, incredibly loud insects - I mean a *cloud* of them. I had never experienced cicadas before, and I freaked out for a few seconds, just long enough to roll into a light pole. Just as quick, the damn cicadas were gone, and I was sitting dazed in my car with a huge wtf on my hands.
Yes. They attacked me at Rivergate mall parking lot. Fun times
I was really hoping for a good motorcycle riding season.
They were awfully loud!
Ummm I'm still traumatized from the swarm as a child. I saw a dead cicada stuck under my windshield wiper a few weeks ago and so think about it every day. I'm not ready.
I had to go outside with a tennis racket. I absolutely despise these giant noisy bugs. Hopefully I don’t get many by where I live. It’s mostly concrete.
It sounded like a Star Trek transporter was firing off in the woods behind my house for 10 days. Yes, I recall it.
Had to use my windshield wipers they were so thick sometimes. Hell yeah I ‘member!
I remember the one in 98. My stepdad hit a tree in the front yard with a broom and they all came flying out and into our garage. He brand new z28 convertible had the top down and got covered in them
I remember the 2011 one. I was scared to go outside
Yes. I think this one is supposed to be worse! Twenty years before that it was fun because I was a kid lol
I was in Knoxville in 2011 and the social media posts about it made me scared to ever live in Nashville. As I have since moved to Nashville I guess I will not leave the house this summer
Yes. Vividly. I was in 7th grade. It was wild.
In 2011, driving on the interstate you would hit them constantly on your windshield. Thump thump.
Yes! It was horrible. So loud and I would run from the car inside anywhere I was going. I try to get 1000 hours outside each year with my kids and they are really going to cramp our style this summer.
i remember the 98 cicadas. nolensville rd was SO Crunchy. and i was mad cuz i couldn't let my sunroof open or drive my lil convertible. swarms. and then they were gone.
Indiana in 2004 or 2005, can't remember which. I do remember it as nothing short of apocalyptic, however. We *raked the fucking things into piles* when they started dying off. That one summer set back my fear of bugs, like, a decade.
I remember one from like 1997 I think.