This Is Why The Rest Of The Summer Will Be Stinky In Illinois

Summer can be a smelly season in general but one thing is about to make it so much worse.

We love summer. It's warm outside, sunny, it's a great time to be outdoors. Of course we get sweaty, but we can handle it. But this summer in particular (like a lot of 2024 evidently) just has to be "once-in-a-lifetime".

The Stinky Starts Now

As NBC Chicago reports, Illinois is about to get smelly. So will parts of Iowa and it's probably not going anywhere anytime soon.

It's thanks to these guys:

Yep, the cicadas of 2024, the great double emergence known as cicadapocalypse that's taking over the Midwest. Illinois has had a lot of cicadas since they're pretty much in the cicada crosshairs this year but places in Iowa have seen a lot too.

When cicadas die, they stink. Like really stink. Experts say the smell will only last a couple of weeks and if you can tough it out, they can be free fertilizer.

Then There's Round 2

Cicadas live about 4 weeks once they come out from the ground. It's about time for round 1 of them to die. Next, we'll have the "dog-day" cicadas in about a month. Those eggs hatch around mid-July and they are the normal ones we're familiar with. They will go through the same life cycle of emerge, mate, die and then they will be the stinky ones.

Some Illinois trees could have as many as 40,000 cicada eggs waiting to hatch next month.

While the stinky level will vary based on where you're at, it's a good bet that somewhere at some point you'll smell a pile or two of dead cicadas this summer.