Brood X cicadas continue to impact DMV - here's how to spot them

Brood X cicadas still hanging around the DMV

If you weren’t a fan of Brood X cicadas, we've got some bad news: they’re back! Although this time around, the experience will be much different. FOX 5's Josh Rosenthal explains.

If you weren’t a fan of Brood X cicadas, we've got some bad news: they’re back! Although this time around, the experience will be much different.

"The cicadas were laying their eggs back in May and June, and it takes anywhere from six to 10 weeks for those eggs to hatch, but guess what, the eggs are hatching," said the University of Maryland’s "Bug Guy" Michael Raupp.

He explained that the eggs are now hatching in trees, leaving tiny cicada nymphs – only about two millimeters long – to find their way into the ground until about 2038.

Close encounters of the cicada kind!

Everyone from the Washington Football Team to the FOX 5 team has a cicada encounter story at this point! So, when will they be gone? FIND OUT: https://bit.ly/3xbIRHN

"They’re simply going to bounce off you and hopefully land on the ground underneath the tree or where you’re standing, dig down into the soil, and find the roots of plants to attach and begin feeding for the next 17 years," Raupp said.

He’d previously written about them in a blog post, which he said was inspired by reporters with The Washington Post.

Some viewers who spoke with FOX 5 Monday, including Margo Reid, said they’re happy to have the baby cicadas around, even if they were to cross paths.

"I would be perfectly fine with that," she laughed, "I would be honored."

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While Raupp said most people probably won’t notice the baby cicadas at all, he did have a recommendation for those wanting to see them, suggesting they place a black piece of paper under an oak tree with flagging branches and wait it out. The idea is the black paper will make the cicadas easier to see when they eventually come in for a landing.