You may know that cicadas spend most of their lives as underground nymphs, emerging in cycles of 13 or 17 years (coincidentally two prime numbers).

The years when the two cycles emergence coincide are therefore rare, and one is 2024.

The 17-year cicada and the 13-year cicada, which are periodical cicadas, are scheduled to emerge in Middle Tennessee in 2024.

The broods co-emerge every 221 years. The last time the two broods co-emerged was in 1803, the same year as the Louisiana Purchase and Thomas Jefferson was president.