2024 Double Cicada Brood Event / 2024 Cicada Double Emergence
Submission 720
Overview
2024 Double Cicada Brood Event or Cicada Double Emergence is a rare phenomenon where two distinct cicada broods emerge simultaneously. The last time the Brood XIII and Brood XIX emerged together was over 200 years ago, which caught viral attention on the internet in May 2024, when netizens eagerly waited to witness the event. The double cicada brood also sparked a series of memes, photoshopped images and parody videos, most notably an SNL sketch.
Background
The 2024 double cicada brood event started to be mentioned on news channels in January 2024, as WCNC channel uploaded a video on January 23rd titled "Cicada invasion: Rare 'double-brood' event predicted for 2024." The video[1] (seen below) explains that experts said two different types of cicadas will emerge in 2024, the Brood XIII and Brood XIX. The post amassed more than 43,000 views and 148 likes in five months.
According to mapping by the University of Connecticut Cicada Project,[2] the double cicada brood event will primarily impact parts of Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia. Reuters[3] posted a map of locations of cicada broods' emergence in the US on May 15th, 2024 (seen below).
Online Reactions
The double cicada brood event grew popular in May 2024, as an ironic fandom was created and netizens posted memes and jokes of their excitement to witness the 'double-brood' event. For example, on May 19th, 2024, SNL posted the sketch "Two Cicadas on the Largest Cicada Emergence" to YouTube[3], which amassed more than 651,000 views and 13,000 likes in two weeks. On May 13th, 2024, YouTuber[4] @ReallyVeryCrunchy posted a comedy skit about the cicadas event (seen below, right), which garnered over 382,000 views and 49,000 likes in three weeks.
On May 29th, 2024, Google's Doodle of the Day referenced the double cicada brood event with an animation of a music band composed by cicadas (seen below).
Various Reactions
Search Interest
External References
[1] YouTube – Cicada invasion: Rare 'double-brood' event predicted for 2024
[2] University of Connecticut Cicada Project – The 2024 Periodical Cicada Emergence
[3] YouTube – Weekend Update: Two Cicadas on the Largest Cicada Emergence – SNL
[4] YouTube – I’m on cicada watch…
Share Pin
Recent Images 13 total
Recent Videos 0 total
There are no recent videos.