More than 1.5 MILLION cicadas ‘to emerge after decades underground and head to the skies’

MILLIONS of cicadas will invade the US states this spring after a 17-year hiatus underground.

As many as 1.5 million cicadas are reportedly expected to darken the skies of North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia sometime this month after spending nearly two decades beneath the Earth.

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The bugs typically emerge from the ground when the soil reaches 64 degrees around mid-May, but they can keep coming out until July, according to AccuWeather.

Michael Skvarla, director of Pennsylvania State University's insect identification lab, said a stretch of cold weather will only put off the inevitable.

"The cold certainly won't kill the cicadas off," he told the weather service on Wednesday.

Although cicadas aren't dangerous to humans, the insects pose a threat to plants and trees and are extremely noisy.

Skvarla compared the "deafening" sound of a massive cicada swarm to "an insect-sized fleet of jets preparing for lift-off."

Cicadas usually spend between 13 to 17 years underground, but they don't just hibernate - they ravage tree roots and dig tunnels to keep tabs on what's happening above them.

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When they do surface, the insects live for only a month, but female cicadas leave behind hundreds of eggs to prepare for a future invasion.

There are a dozen different breeds of 17-year cicadas and three type of the 13-year kind, according to AccuWeather.

Several types of 13- and 17-year cicadas have gone extinct.

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