Cicadas Are Out at Knob Noster State Park and it’s Alien Like

A Facebook post and some pictures on the Knob Noster State Park proclaim that the aliens have landed! And the pictures shared by the park certainly show these alien-looking gross things on tree trunks. But, no, it's not anything alien at all. It's just cicadas emerging from the ground and their shells and it's happening right now.

Missouri State Parks say the cicadas will literally "hang precariously from their shells until their wings are fully unfurled and dry, ready to fly."

There's been a lot of talk about cicadas this year. After all, this summer has featured the largest emergence of cicadas since 2004. Most of the cicada activity has been taking place from Tennessee to New York, and Missouri has been spared from the billions and billions of cicadas and the shells they leave behind. At least that's what CNN says.

According to an article in Springfield News-Leader, Missouri will have a cicada emergence like they've experienced out east in 2024.

While Missouri may see straggler cicadas from other states, we won’t have the massive swarms of noisy insects because the state’s sleeping batch, referred to as Brood XIX, won’t emerge until 2024, said Francis Skalicky, media specialist with Missouri Department of Conservation.

That said, the cicadas that are here will be making themselves known by their loud buzzing drone noise. That by the way are the boy cicadas calling out to the girl cicadas so they can make more cicadas together.

Knob Noster State Park says the hollow shells left behind by the cicadas are fun to look at. And stick to anything, even clothes. It's what the park calls "A perfect badge of cicada honor." Me, I think it's a little gross. Ewww.