Cicadas are very loud indeed. Extension entomologist P.J. Liesch of the University of Wisconsin-Madison told CBS 58 in Milwaukee that a grove of trees with a bunch of singing and screeching cicadas could reach 70 to 80 decibels – a similar volume to a vacuum cleaner.

Brood XIII 17-year cicadas have been reported in Walworth County and are expected to emerge across southern Wisconsin in the next week or two.

They’re loud, but they’re harmless. And some people even like to eat them. Cicadas are beginning to emerge from the ground around Chicagoland and Illinois. Two broods will converge on the state in a historic emergence.