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Charlotte Talks With Mike Collins

The Summer Of The Brood X Cicadas

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Two Brood X cicadas from 2004. The cicadas emerge every 17 years.
Tracy Lee

Brood X cicadas emerge every 17 years. This is one of those years.

In some parts of the country, swarms of cicadas are completely covering cars,delaying flightsandeven showing up on weather radars.

But what exactly are cicadas? Are the loud insects a danger or annoyance? These swarms of cicadas took 17 years to emerge, but what were they doing during that time — and when will they go away?

The East Coast and Midwest seem to have the largest number of swarms right now, but some are wondering if Charlotte will soon turn into cicada central.

We'll have a conversation about cicadas in North Carolina this year and in the future.

Guests

Clyde Sorenson,professor at North Carolina State University

Ken Ahlstrom, entomologist at Economy Exterminators

Gene Kritsky, Creator ofCicada Safari app and dean of the School of Behavioral and Natural Sciences at Mount St. Joseph University

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Alexandra Watts is an interim assistant producer on Charlotte Talks. Previously, she worked with WFAE as a Report for America corps member, reporting on local government and community issues through a partnership between WFAE and the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.