Milwaukee County won't see swarms of cicadas this summer. Here's why

If you're a Milwaukee County resident wondering when the promised hordes of 17-year cicadas are going to swarm your yard, don't hold your breath.

While some areas of Wisconsin are considered cicada "hot spots," the bugs, which began emerging in state last week, haven't been seen around the Milwaukee area in quite some time and aren't due to return anytime soon. Here's why.

Will 17-year cicadas emerge in Milwaukee in 2024?

Brood XIII cicadas haven't been documented in Milwaukee County for "several decades" and aren't expected to emerge there this summer, said PJ Liesch, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Insect Diagnostics Lab.

"They were previously in more areas, but, with land-use changes, their habitat is probably changing over time. When you think about the long lifecycles of these insects, they spend most of their life underground in the soil as juveniles feeding on tree roots. If those trees are disturbed at any point ― they're cut down to make an agricultural field or a parking lot or a strip mall ― those populations will likely go extinct."

Liesch said this is why cicada populations have declined in populous, developed areas like Milwaukee and Waukesha counties.

Where will 17-year cicadas emerge in Wisconsin?

The Lake Geneva area will be the best place in Wisconsin to see the 17-year cicadas due to their well-established record there, especially along the northern side of the lake, Liesch wrote in his blog.

Other cicada hotspots include areas of Green County and Rock County, including Janesville and Beloit. Additionally, the insects are expected to be prevalent in southwestern Wisconsin's Driftless Area counties ― Iowa, Sauk, Richland, Crawford and Grant.

Liesch's blog named Prairie du Chien and the Spring Green area as hotspots. Several cities along the Wisconsin River have also historically had strong cicada activity, he said, and parts of Dane County southwest of the village of Mazomanie could see the bugs as well.

It's important to remember that cicadas won't emerge uniformly across these counties. Liesch describes their distribution as highly concentrated, more like "pushpins on the map."

Summer 2024 cicada map

The map below shows where Brood XIII 17-year and Brood XIX 13-year cicadas are expected to emerge this summer.

More: How to keep your vehicle safe and clean from hordes of cicadas this summer

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Cicadas in Wisconsin won't emerge in Milwaukee County. Here's why