05/07/2013
Tracking the Buzz - literally!
Sterling-based environmental monitoring firm Sutron said it has installed a soil temperature monitoring station in the Northern Virginia area that should provide a good indicator of when the insects will resurface. The Magicicada septendecim, or Brood II, emerges every 17 years when the ground temperature reaches 64 degrees. That's expected to be anywhere from late April through early June. The station consists of a research-grade soil temperature probe buried eight inches deep. Data is collected every 15 minutes, and is transmitted wirelessly to the company's web-based data portal.
The Brood II cicadas (Magicicada septendecim) resurface every 17 years in states across the East Coast, and it is predicted that there will be up to one billion cicadas per square mile in some areas. They will break free from the ground when the ground temperature reaches 64 degrees Fahrenheit, thou...