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Here's where Brood XIV cicadas have emerged this spring

Saleen Martin   Paste BN
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With just a month left of spring, Brood XIV cicadas are continuously emerging, showing up across parts of the eastern United States.

Sightings have been recorded across much of western North Carolina and Tennessee and into Kentucky and southern Ohio. Cicada enthusiasts have also reported seeing the noisy creatures as far east as Massachusetts.

Brood XIV, which emerges once every 17 years, is considered to be among the largest periodical cicada broods, along with Brood XIX, which emerged in 2024, according to the University of Connecticut.

Here’s where Brood XIV cicadas have emerged so far this spring.

Where have cicadas been spotted?

Keeping records of Brood XIV's emergence is Gene Kritsky, a professor at Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati and founder of the Cicada Safari app. The app allows community members to submit photos and geographical data on cicadas they spot.

Sightings logged on the Cicada Safari map include:

  • Western North Carolina – Over 2,300 sightings
  • Greater Cincinnati area, Ohio – Over 2,200 sightings
  • Southwestern Kentucky area – Over 1,100 sightings
  • Eastern Tennessee – Over 700 sightings
  • Louisville, Kentucky area – Over 473 sightings
  • Lexington, Kentucky area – Over 446 sightings
  • Huntington area, West Virginia – Over 200 sightings
  • Cape Cod, Massachusetts – Over 190 sightings
  • Bethesda area, Maryland – Over 50 sightings
  • Morgantown area, Pennsylvania – Over 50 sightings

You can keep track of cicada sightings by downloading the Cicada Safari mobile app, visiting www.cicadamap.msj.edu, or www.cicadas.uconn.edu/broods/brood_14.

Map: Regions where you could see Brood XIV cicadas

According to Cooley, Brood XIV emerges in four patches, including:

  1. A large patch stretching from northeast Georgia to southern Ohio
  2. A smaller patch in central Pennsylvania
  3. Long Island
  4. Cape Cod

“Both Long Island and Cape Cod populations are unusual for their occurrence on sandy soil,” Cooley wrote on his website. Cooley’s team keeps a map or log of these cicadas.

This map shows roughly where Brood XIV was expected to make an appearance this spring, however, experts say it can be tricky to know exactly which counties will have confirmed sightings.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on Paste BN's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com.

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