CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — It's like a guest showing up early to a party you don't want to have. A few cicadas have emerged, weeks before they usually do.
Only a few have made their way out, most of the annoying bugs may stay in the ground longer. Butterfly House Senior Entomologist Tad Yankoski explains what the cicadas are waiting for, "the ground has to hit 64 degrees, 8 inches below the surface. We've been measuring it every single day, sometimes multiple times a day and it is getting close fast."
As it tends to do, St. Louis weather may throw a wrench in the plans, "we do have a cold front coming, so the cicadas are in a race against the clock to see if it will hit 64 degrees before or after that cold front."
If the ground does not make it to 64 degrees, the bugs will not come out. If that happens Yankoski predicts, "I think we might be pushing that emergence a week or two down the road."
The brief cold snap could buy us a little bit of time, but the heat will win out eventually and cicada brood XIX will emerge. When the 13-year cicada comes out, it will be in the masses and will last around a month.
Upon hearing the news, 10-year St. Louis resident - first time 13-year cicada witness, Sharon Cotto, exclaimed, "like a month? Oh my god, like it is what it is, we got to live with them."
Musician Thom Null has a different idea. For the last few weeks, he's been visiting the Butterfly House in Chesterfield to play music inspired by the winged insect's flight patterns.
Null plans to do the same outside when the cicadas emerge, "I'm hoping to come to some area that is heavily cicada oriented and do some cicada themed music with my band Mama Lujo."
The goal is to get the bugs right as they are coming out of the ground, like zombies. Null says he'll probably play something, "somber and spooky, just like them."
"I think that cicadas are pretty much perfect for your science fiction fix," smiles Null, "They really are like something out of fantasy."