beng, interesting article, thanks for posting it. I may try to visit northern Illinois for the big event, even though like you I had the "pleasure" of witnessing the Brood X emergence in 2021 (in southwest Ohio).

UConn has a very informative page - The 2024 Periodical Cicada Emergence - with some noteworthy details: "[in Illinois] You will be able to see all seven named periodical cicada species as adults in the same year". Also, there probably won't be much overlap geographically "[the two broods will] not overlap to any significant extent. They may co-occur in patches of woods, but these patches will be small in size [and therefore] will not involve areas of extreme or “double” densities outside the norm of what happens in any other periodical cicada emergence year".

Also interesting to note that apparently there were some early arrivals of the Brood XIII back in May/June of 2020 - also known as stragglers "Stragglers may appear before or after their brood is expected to emerge, and they may appear almost any number of years off-cycle, though increments of 1 and 4 years seem most common") per this Morton Arboretum Plant Health Care Report

arbordave, there were strips of nearby mountainsides turned brown in 2021 from cicada damage. I got a pic or two of some damage -- oaks are really hit bad in spots.

Our first cat as a couple, she died in 1998 at 18, was an indoor/outdoor cat. At that time, no traffic and quiet neighborhood. She LOVED July flies! I would find the shell, back and wings with the soft parts gone.

I cannot hear them every summer without thinking of her. She was a tortiseshell named Gypsy.