THE UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS
Former Ambassador Spratlen to oversee 'Havana syndrome' problem

CANADIAN STUDY FOUND NADA, ZIP, NOTHING

AMERICANS WILL STUDY THIS TILL THEY FIND SOMETHING


Some 40 diplomats, U.S. Embassy workers and their family members reported symptoms of the so-called "Havana syndrome." File Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of State | License Photo

March 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department on Friday appointed former Ambassador Pamela Spratlen to oversee an investigation into mysterious illnesses reported by U.S. diplomats serving at the Embassy in Cuba in 2017.

She will serve as a senior adviser on the Health Incident Response Task Force.

The United States launched the high-level probe in 2018 after dozens of employees and their family members came down with symptoms of what came to be known as "Havana syndrome." They reported a range of concussion-like symptoms, including balance problems, memory lapses, difficulty concentrating, insomnia, headaches and nausea.

State Department officials initially said the employees may have been targeted by a "sonic attack." Some said they heard high-pitched noises in in their hotel rooms or homes. But the mystery remains unsolved.

"The selection of Ambassador Spratlen will help us make strides to address this issue wherever it affects department personnel and their families," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. "She will streamline our coordination efforts with the interagency community, and reaffirm our commitment to make certain that those affected receive the care and treatment they need."

Spratlen previously served as ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2015 to 2018, and as ambassador to Kyrgyzstan from 2011 to 2014. She joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1990.

In 2019, researchers said they detected some "alterations" in the affected diplomats' brain structure and function, though it was unclear if those changes were significant.

Weather played peculiar role in spread of COVID-19 over past year
By Mark Puleo, Accuweather.com

Pedestrian traffic is scarce along 7th Avenue in during heavy snow in Times Square in New York City on December 16, 2020. Snowstorms this winter held up vaccine shipments and the rare winter freeze in Texas for a week also disrupted mitigation efforts. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

March 12 -- As the world marks one year since the World Health Organization designated the coronavirus outbreak a global threat, a look back at the past 12 months shows how much has been learned about how the virus is structured, how it spreads and how it behaves.

Yet some weighty questions linger -- mainly, how did we get here?


Many signs and data points suggest the weather may influence the coronavirus to some degree, but to what degree remains something of a mystery.

Since the world as we knew it ground to a halt last March, dozens (if not hundreds) of different studies have been published analyzing the many different weather influences on COVID-19. While each publication has shed some amount of new light on the topic, the overall picture remains murky at best.

However, as the end of winter nears, caseloads across the United States have gradually receded in recent weeks. Glimmers of hope twinkle that in the coming months, a mix of warmth and sunshine could offer the environmental aid needed to supplement human efforts at slowing and eventually stopping the transmission of the virus.

"It's tough to say exactly how big of a puzzle piece (seasonality) is, but I am personally looking forward to summer," researcher Jonathan Proctor told AccuWeather in January. "I have a little bit of optimism."

Proctor and his fellow authors from Harvard University and the University of California, Santa Barbara shared their findings on the impacts of seasonality on COVID-19 in December, and certainly weren't the first researchers to try to better understand the link.

Going all the way back to March 2020, experts were keenly aware that some specific weather conditions were likely to play some role in the pandemic's impact.

A bicyclist rests at the reflecting pool near the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on April 8, 2020. Many hoped that the warmer weather last summer would help drive the coronavirus away, but it didn't happen. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI

Linsey Marr, an aerosol scientist at Virginia Tech University, explained to AccuWeather at the very beginning of the pandemic that the spread of coronavirus can be compared to second-hand smoke.

At the time, the United States hadn't yet seen a day with more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases.

"I think as the weather warms up and our humidity indoors gets higher, we'll have to see. We can hope that transmission might slow down, but I don't think we can count on it," Marr said on March 23, 2020.

Marr's doubt proved fatally true. More than a half-million U.S. COVID-19 deaths later, it's been proven that human behavior perhaps plays a much larger role than environmental factors in influencing viral spread.

By July 2020, daily caseload increases were regularly topping 70,000, more than twice what they were just three months before. This rise also coincided with the United States significantly ramping up testing.

Come winter, when many environmental aids were replaced by a season of gray and snow, new cases had multiplied fourfold and topped out at about 300,000 new cases on Jan. 2, according to Johns Hopkins University. But was it just the weather that sent new infections surging?

Rising cases also coincided with the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, occasions in which many Americans ignored health officials' advice for holiday travel.

But untangling which forces -- weather conditions, government restrictions or human behavior -- are most dominant in this equation has proven highly difficult for researchers.

Comparing the size of impacts weather can make may be a nearly impossible task to quantify, but experts like Proctor and Bryan Lewis, a professor with the Biocomplexity Institute at the University of Virginia, say Americans need to stick to the basics first and then hope the helpful weather can help.

"COVID is kind of both really difficult and simple at the same time," Proctor said, advising that people "keep doing the basics of wearing a mask."

Lewis told AccuWeather in January that those basics have proven effective, as seen by the vast reduction of flu cases this winter. The seasonal flu, another virus that's largely influenced by weather, is spreading at record-low rates this winter -- and experts say mask-wearing and social distancing are the reason.

However, Lewis emphasizes, the flu and the coronavirus behave, spread and impact in much different ways.

The flu season typically runs from October to March, with some active cases lasting into May. But this year, it's just nowhere to be found, Lynette Brammer, who leads the domestic influenza team for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told AccuWeather in February.

"The flu season this year has been pretty nonexistent," she said. "And I really do think that has a lot to do with the levels of precautions folks are taking, just the extra social distancing we're engaged in has eliminated flu transmission over this season."

"The flu has just been fully interrupted by people wearing masks, staying home, the reduced number of children in schools and I think more people got the flu vaccine."

Crews work to repair broken water lines in Wylie, Texas, during a rare winter storm on February 18, 2021 Record cold temperatures, snow and ice caused power outages and led to frozen water pipes. Photo by Ian Halperin/UPI

The spread of vaccines, Lewis said, will be crucial for environmental benefits in slowing the coronavirus going forward.

President Joe Biden said Thursday night that vaccines will be available for every adult in the United States by the end of April, a timeline that would align nicely with the year's peak sunshine months of summer.

Biden said the vaccines represent a "light at the end of the tunnel," but cautioned Americans not to let down their guard.

The vaccine rollout process over the past three months has been difficult from a logistical standpoint. Adding to that, strictly in a practical sense, weather events certainly haven't helped.

Major snowstorms in Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia have held up vaccination efforts and the rare winter freeze that shut down Texas for a week also halted testing and vaccinations.

The environment can't be fully relied upon to kill COVID19, like some hoped a year ago, but basic protection efforts and increased vaccinations are causes for optimism.

"We have to just brace ourselves that there's a long way to go before we have sufficient vaccinations to induce herd immunity and allow us to go back to normal," Lewis said.

"Hopefully, by the time spring arrives and we get some assistance from Mother Nature, we'll be at a very low prevalence, and we then can start to move back into a normal life."

AS USUAL THEY CAUSED A RIOT

City report says police in LA mishandled George Floyd protests last year

Protesters demonstrating against the killing of George Floyd clash for hours with police on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, blocking the 110 Freeway, vandalizing cars and property, and getting into a series of tense altercations with officers on May 29, 2020. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

March 12 (UPI) -- The Los Angeles Police Department mishandled the protests that erupted last summer following the police-involved killing of George Floyd, an independent report commissioned by the city council said.

The 101-page report published Thursday and transmitted to the Board of Police Commissioners said the department was not prepared for the protests and exhibited deficiencies in numerous areas, from training and planning to conducting mass arrests and its use of less lethal tools.

"The lack of adequate planning and preparation caused the department to be reactive, rather than proactive, and inhibited the department's ability to have better control over the violence being committed by small groups of individuals whose objectives were to create chaos and confrontation with the police," the report said.

The critical report documented confusion and disorder caused by high-ranking officers enacting conflicting tactical plans, a lack of expertise in public order policing among the force due to a lack of training, an inability to isolate and arrest criminal elements and a use of less lethal munitions that saw those not engaging in illegal activity struck by projectiles and injured.

Protests erupted and persisted for weeks in Los Angeles after Floyd, an unarmed Black man, was killed by a White Minneapolis police officer on Memorial Day, resulting in more than 4,000 arrests in LA between May 29 and June 2.

The report said the LAPD conducted the arrests throughout the protests "without a clearly articulated plan for detentions, transportation and processing" that led to those arrested to be detained at the scene or on buses or relocated to remote locations for hours without water or use of restroom facilities.

These problems have occurred before, the report said.

"It is unfortunate that the same issues have arisen again and again with the department being unable or unwilling to rectify the problem," the report said.

The department was also unable to isolate and arrest those who were creating violence and looting "due in part to the use of antiquated tactics and lack of training on public order policing," it said.

The report added that the department's leadership also failed to ensure the wellness of their officers with many working long hours without relief, causing them to be sleep deprived.

Some officers did not have the proper protective gear to shield them during the protests, resulting in 106 being injured, according to the report.

"The department must do everything it can to provide for officer safety and at the same time protect the safety of those who are peacefully protesting," it said.

The report proposed 22 recommendations for the city, the Board of Police Commissioners and the police department to consider.

The LAPD said in a statement that it will comment after it has completed a careful review of the report.

The police department and the National Police Foundation are separately conducting their own investigations into the LAPD's handling of the protests.

"Independent of the three reports, the department recognized areas of improvement from the events that occurred over the summer," the LAPD said, stating it has implemented several changes.

The department added that Police Chief Michael Moore "has taken responsibility for the department's response" and it has identified lessons learned from the unrest.

"As a result, additional training was provided to the rank and file, as well as the command staff and leadership of the department," it said. "The opportunity to learn from our mistakes, to grow and become better servants to our community is welcomed and we look forward to leaning into the challenges before us."

The report follows the city of Chicago watchdog last month stating its police department was also "under-prepared and ill-equipped" to handle the protests in its city.


Protesters demand justice in police killing of George Floyd

Demonstrators hold a sign in Los Angeles on June 14, 2020 for Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was shot by police in her home while she was sleeping. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI

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Palestinian Americans decry Biden support for both sides in Israel conflict


Palestinians shop in the Old City of Bethlehem, West Bank, on January 27 after U.S. President Joe Biden's administration announced it would 
restore relations and aid to the Palestinians. File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Prior to the 2020 election, some Palestinian Americans said that although Joe Biden was a better choice than President Donald Trump, he was still "the lesser of two evils."

Six days after taking office, the Biden administration announced the United States would restore relations with Palestine, renew aid to Palestinian refugees, reopen the Palestine Liberation Organization's mission office in Washington and rejoin the U.N. Human Rights Council.

But the administration will also continue supporting Israel, a commitment some Palestinian Americans say outweighs the commitment to Palestine.

Mohamad Habehh, national development coordinator for American Muslims for Palestine, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing Palestinian rights through advocacy and education in the United States, said the Biden administration has not shown that it is willing to change harmful policies and actions of the Trump administration, most notably by not rescinding the decision to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"Biden has claimed to want to be a neutral party," Habehh said. "But the truth is, I don't feel that any announcement he's made as of yet has shown that he is willing to do more than return to the status quo of the pre-Trump era" under former President Barack Obama.

Habehh said the United States is the biggest supporter of Israel, diplomatically and financially.

Lamese Ballout, a Palestinian American living in suburban Chicago, said she's glad Biden seems to be taking steps to support Palestinians, but his commitment to Israel is contradictory, although not surprising.
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"I don't think you can expect an American president to not be pro-Israel," Ballout said. "That's always been America's agenda."

The relationship with Israel dates back to 1948 when the United States was the first country to recognize it as a state when it declared independence.

But Israel's independence coincides with its occupation of Palestine, which University of California law professor and Middle East scholar George Bisharat calls a "modern incarnation of settler colonialism."

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"Israel is a settler colonial state that was founded in an era of decolonization as the rest of the world's colonizing powers were withdrawing from Africa, from the Middle East and other regions of the world," Bisharat said.

Conflicting data on the total Arab American population makes it difficult to accurately estimate the population of Palestinian Americans, but the largest estimate is only around 180,000. Because of this, Bisharat said Palestinian Americans are "not capable of exerting the kind of political pressure that is exerted on the other side."

Nevertheless, Habehh said, some members of Congress have supported the Palestinian cause, such as Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., who introduced two bills between 2017 and 2019 bringing attention to the Palestinian struggle by focusing on the conflict's impact on children.

Bisharat acknowledged that, while Biden's actions are less "crude" and "abrasive" than the Trump administration's, there is no significant change in American policies toward Palestine or Israel. In fact, Bisharat said, Biden's steps are potentially more injurious than the previous administration's policies.

Palestinian American Ismail Abu Hayyeh, whose family fled from their village in 1948 because of the Israeli occupation, said while Biden's attempts to restore relations with Palestine look good on the surface, there is no true way to support both Israel and Palestine.

Abu Hayyeh said the support to both sides "makes absolutely no sense because you're funding an ally" that is actively oppressing another population.

To Abu Hayyeh and Bisharat, "meaningful action" by the Biden administration would be instructing Israel to stop settling the West Bank and withdrawing all military and other support.

Habehh said that to show dedication to the Palestinian cause, the Biden administration "should be willing to hold Israel accountable" for its occupation.

Biden supports a two-state solution as the way to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The solution would divide Palestine and Israel into two countries: Palestine for the Arab population and Israel for the Jewish population. But for many Palestinian Americans, this solution is unacceptable.

Ballout, however, said the two-state solution could offer something to both sides of the conflict and shows Biden is trying to do something to resolve it. But to her family in Palestine, a two-state solution would be an offering of "crumbs."

"I know my family back home would be like, 'We're never gonna settle,'" Ballout said.

Abu Hayyeh ardently opposes the two-state solution, saying it would legitimize Israel's right to land that belonged to Palestinians, including his family. He said he supports a one-state solution but only under certain circumstances.

"I wouldn't want that government to be a primarily Israeli government because we know where that would lead," Abu Hayyeh said. "If we are to have a one-state solution, it has to be a Palestinian state, under a Palestinian Authority."

Bisharat said that after discussing the idea for nearly 25 years, the time has passed for the two-state solution, noting that the number of settlers in the West Bank tripled during those years to more than 460,000 Israelis living in the occupied West Bank.

"There's no way those settlers are ever going to be moved," Bisharat said. "Likewise, there is no way to establish a truly sovereign Palestinian state in the remaining territories that are discontiguous."

Bisharat said the solution is one-state with both sides as equal partners.

"People have to muster the political courage to reach for it, including politicians in the United States," he said.


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Bible fragments, 10,500-year-old basket discovered in Jerusalem

(13 images)

The Israel Antiquities Authority recently made exciting discoveries on an excavation in the Muraba'at Cove in the Judean Desert near Jerusalem. Here's a look at some of their findings and behind the scenes from the caves.

Archeologist Dr. Naama Sukenik shows a 10,500-year old basket discovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the Muraba'at Cove in the Judean Desert at the IAA laboratories in Jerusalem, on Tuesday. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI 

The 10,500-year-old basket is seen as it was found in the Muraba'at Cave. The excavation operations have been undertaken since 2017. Photo courtesy of Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority

The moment preparatory program students discovered the 10,500-year-old basket in the Muraba'at Cave. The basket is likely the oldest complete basket in the world. Photo courtesy of Yaniv Berman/Israel Antiquities Authority

 
Scroll conservationist Tanya Bitler points to a parchment section of a scroll that was part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Scroll conservationist Tanya Bitler displays parchment biblical fragments and a scroll section discovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority. This is the first time in approximately 60 years that bible fragments were uncovered. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Phot

Additional finds from the Jewish rebels who fled to the caves in the Judea Desert at the end of the Bar Kokhba revolt were discovered, such as this ancient lice comb. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

An archeologist holds coins from the Bar Kokhba period. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Archeologist Dr. Naama Sukenik shows woven fabric discovered in the Muraba'at Cove. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Roman arrowheads from the Roman period are on display from the operation. Photo courtesy of Dafna Gazit/Israel Antiquities Authority

Archeologist Chaim Cohen shows a 2,000-year-old sandal. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Archeologist Dr. Naama Sukenik (R) shows ancient rope pieces discovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI | License Photo

Excavations were made in challenging conditions in Muraba‘at Cave. Photo courtesy of Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority

Archaeologists Hagay Hamer (L) and Oriah Amichai sieve finds at the entrance to the Cave of Horror in the caves of the Judean Desert. Photo courtesy of Eitan Klein/Israel Antiquities Authority

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American, United Airlines cancel furloughs for 30K workers after new COVID-19 aid


A masked United Airlines ticket agent is seen at St. Louis-Lambert International Airport in St. Louis, Mo., on March 28, 2020. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo

March 11 (UPI) -- American Airlines and United Airlines have canceled furloughs for almost 30,000 workers who would have lost their jobs next month if Congress hadn't passed President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan.

The carriers are recalling about 27,000 combined furlough notices that they'd previously announced. They said in their notices that the furloughs would occur in April if key federal payroll funding wasn't renewed by Congress.

The House passed the $1.9 trillion relief package on Wednesday, which extended the payroll aid for airlines.

"Congress has saved thousands of airline jobs, preserved the livelihoods of our hard-working team members and helped position the industry to play a central role in the nation's recovery," American CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom said in a joint statement.

"We are forever grateful."

United had sent notices to about 14,000 workers and American about 13,000.

"Our teams will be able to remain current in their training and ready to match expected future demand," United CEO Scott Kirby said in a statement.

"Thousands of front-line workers will now receive paychecks and healthcare through September, which is especially critical while vaccine distribution continues to ramp up."

Under the renewed aid, U.S. carriers cannot furlough any workers until at least October. The CARES Act last year, which offered similar aid, had the same requirement.

US Labor Dept. moves to rescind two Trump-era rules on worker classification

March 11 (UPI) -- The Biden administration on Thursday announced it is working to rescind two Trump-era rules it says weakened worker protections.

In the latest move by the administration of President Joe Biden to roll back the policies of his predecessor, the Labor Department said in a statement it has proposed to withdraw two rules that concern the classifications of workers and contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The first rule called the Independent Contractor Final Rule, which was issued in the final weeks of the Donald Trump presidency, sought to clarify the standard for employee versus independent contractor while the second rule updated guidance for determining joint employer status, which was mostly vacated by the court last year deeming it violated the Administrative Procedure Act.

"Rescinding these rules would strengthen protections for workers, including the essential front-line workers who have done so much during these challenging times," Jessica Looman, the Wage and Hour Division's principal deputy administrator, said. "While legitimate independent contractors are an important part of our economy, the misclassification of employees as independent contractors denies workers access to critical benefits and protections that law provides."
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The department said the comment period on the rules is open until April 12.

The announcement came a day after the department said it would stop enforcing two other Trump-era rules concerning retirement plans as it reviews them.

The department said it came to this decision after hearing from a wide variety of stakeholders including labor organizations and consumer groups about the impacts of the Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments and Fiduciary Duties Regarding Proxy Voting and Shareholder Rights.

said the interested parties had raised issues over whether they were rushed unnecessarily and implemented without considering evidence submitted by public commenters.

"The department has also heard from stakeholders that the rules, and investor confusion about the rules, and investor confusion about them, have already had a chilling effect on appropriate integration of ESG factors in investment decisions, including in circumstances that the rules may in fact allow," it said.

Ali Khawar, principal deputy assistant secretary for the Employee Benefits Security Administration, said the department will continue to conduct stakeholder outreach over the rules to see how they can be better crafted.

"These rules have created a perception that fiduciaries are at risk if they include any environmental, social and governance factors in the financial evaluation of plan investments, and that they may need to have special justifications for even ordinary exercises of shareholder rights," Khawar said.

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Canadian firm builds satellites to track space trash

By Paul Brinkmann
3/11/2021


An illustration shows a space debris-tracking satellite that is under construction by Canadian firm NorthStar. Image courtesy of NorthStar

An illustration depicts orbital debris, or space trash, above the Earth. Image courtesy of European Space Agency

March 11 (UPI) -- A Canadian startup plans to launch the first-ever commercial fleet of satellites designed to track dangerous space trash in 2022.

Montreal-based NorthStar Earth & Space has three of its Skylark satellites under construction for the new network, which eventually will number about 52 spacecraft.

The fleet would be the first of its kind to track space trash from space, rather than from ground-based radar or other technology.

The satellites would address an orbital debris problem that NASA says is growing and "poses a safety risk to people and property in space and on Earth." Most space trash travels at about 18,000 mph, almost seven times faster than a bullet.

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"We looked at the way [debris tracking] was being done on the ground, and we said it would be better to do it from space," said Stewart Bain, NorthStar co-founder and CEO.

"Our goal is to make it much easier to navigate your satellite in space so you don't have to have a Ph.D. in imagery or $100 million worth of equipment to be able to process the information," Bain said.

The satellites, being built by France-based Thales Alenia Space, will be relatively small at 220 pounds, with a telescope and small thrusters. NorthStar has raised $65 million for the first stages of the satellite program, some of it from the Canadian government.

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The company is talking to launch providers and plans to choose one soon, Bain said. He declined to say which providers he's considering, but said it would be one with a proven track record.

NorthStar's satellites would image known space objects about six times per day when fully operational, Bain said. That compares with only sporadic observations available for certain objects today, especially if they are owned by a nation that doesn't publish details about their space operations, such as China or Russia.

NorthStar's tracking would provide about 80% to 90% more accurate distance predictions for two space objects, according to the company.
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For example, ground-based tracking systems predicted two satellites that collided in 2009 would be almost 2,000 feet away from each other at the closest point. NorthStar said its system would have sounded an alarm with a "miss distance" of only around 200 feet apart.

In that instance, one of the satellites -- Iridium 33 -- could have moved away from the other, a defunct Russian craft named Kosmos-2251. The collision produced 2,000 pieces of debris, one of which passed fewer than 400 feet away from the International Space Station in 2012.

"We can't afford to have significant accidents in space as we are watching companies like SpaceX and OneWeb launch thousands of new satellites," Bain said. "We just can't afford to delay this anymore."

Once NorthStar launches 12 of its Skylark satellites to monitor space debris, it plans to launch dozens more that also have Earth-imaging capability to attract more customers, he said.

NorthStar's plans are a significant step toward better space debris tracking, also known as situational awareness, said Moriba Jah, associate professor of aerospace at the University of Texas at Austin.

Jah, who has provided technical advice to NorthStar, said the company's spacecraft are only a good first step toward better management of space traffic.

That's because even a space-based observation system like NorthStar's must still send data to and from the Earth for processing, and that causes delays, Jah said.

"The goal should be that each space-based platform or spacecraft has the computational framework onboard, to be able to process data and actually extract information from the data without having to send it to the ground," he said.

Most current U.S.-based satellite networks only have data about where their own satellites are, and they rely on data from the U.S. military to make any automatic adjustments to flight paths for collision avoidance, Jah said. Such reliance on third-party data also produces delays.

NASA and other space agencies around the world have knowledge gaps regarding space debris that could be filled with better data and space-based systems, Jah said.

There may be orbital planes where "you shouldn't put anything else up there because, basically, it's just going to lead to more debris," he said.

'Big brood' of cicadas set to emerge for first time since 2004

By Mark Puleo, Accuweather.com
MARCH 10, 2021 


"The big cicada-palooza is about to begin!"

Those are the words of entomologist and bug enthusiast Michael Raupp from the University of Maryland. In a couple of months, he said, billions if not trillions of singing cicadas will emerge from the ground across a large swath of the eastern United States. It will be a party that has been 17 years in the making.

Since 2004, if you're a Brood X cicada, you've likely been counting down the days until May 2021.

As May's warmer weather approaches, large swaths of Brood X cicadas will emerge from their 17-year underground hiatus and cover much of the Southeast, mid-Atlantic and Great Lakes regions, spreading over 15 states with their loud buzzing and egg laying.

Raupp told AccuWeather that it remains a general mystery as to how cicadas know when 17 years has passed or what triggers their re-emergence. However, he did say that soil temperature likely plays a crucial role.

"What we know is that when soil temperatures reach roughly 64 degrees Fahrenheit at a depth of about a foot or 18 inches, that is the signal -- that's Mother Nature's clue -- that the world is now warm enough for cicadas to get up and out of the ground," Raupp said. That temperature is crucial for cicadas because by that point, leaves will have sprouted on tree branches -- something needed for egg laying, he added. "That's basically their environmental cue that the world is now warm enough to get out of the ground and do the business that cicadas are gonna do."

While Brood X, or Brood 10, is not the largest group of periodical cicadas, the brood has tremendous reach across the eastern United States and puts them on a lot of peoples' radar.

There are 15 periodical broods of cicadas and two appear to have gone extinct. As opposed to annual broods, which emerge every year from July to September, periodical broods stay underground for either 13 or 17 years, depending on the brood.

According to Raupp, this one is unique because it is known as "the big brood" and has the largest geographic distribution, with cicada populations ranging from Georgia up to New York. With cicadas emerging across an area that widespread, and with so many stuck in their homes due to the pandemic, it will make for a wonderful learning opportunity for millions of people, Raupp said.

"There are simply going to be billions if not trillions of periodical cicadas emerging from the ground," Raupp said. On "bright, sunny days in May," he advises, "get outside, enjoy those songs, go watch some cicadas. It's gonna be spectacular."

Once outside, the sunniest days of the midsummer will also be the noisiest, he said. The three distinct species of cicadas in Brood X all have distinct calls, he said, and the combination is sure to make for a boisterous chorus.

Raupp said that on bright, sunny days when the greatest number of cicadas are active, "It's really gonna be loud." How loud? The noise created by Brood X "can be as loud as 80 to 100 decibels," Raupp added. "That's the sound equivalent of a lawnmower or a jet aircraft going overhead. So they're gonna be having fun, it's gonna be noisy."

During their 17-year stay underground, the cicadas aren't exactly napping. John Cooley, a researcher with the University of Connecticut, told AccuWeather last year that in the years between emergences, cicadas are busy eating tree roots and digging tunnels.

This coming spring, AccuWeather meteorologists say temperatures should be ripe for their midspring emergence.

"This May should be 1-2 degrees above normal, which means many days with highs in the upper 70s and low 80s and nighttime lows in the 50s and low 60s," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dale Mohler said.

Conditions in Washington, D.C., in early May may be perfect for the Brood X cicadas to make their return.

Mohler also said that there is a small risk of a late frost the first week of May, especially in northwestern Maryland and northern Virginia, but the risk of a late frost after May 8 is very low.

"Rainfall this May should be a little above normal," he said. "Normal rainfall for the month of May is 4-5 inches. I would expect rainfall this May to be 5 to 5.50 inches. There may be slightly lower amounts of sunshine this May, compared to normal, while humidity levels may be a little above normal."

Farther west, historical averages in Illinois and Michigan also suggest that May should make for an ideal time for arrivals.

In 2017, Brood X cicadas prematurely showed up in the Baltimore area and experts such as Raupp believe those early risers may have been "accelerators" of this year's brood, a group that appears abnormally early.

"Brood X is the 17-year group living in the capital region and will be emerging next spring. Of course, leaving the fate of your brood up to one year is very risky, so periodical cicadas also have some individuals that emerge a little early or a little late," Raupp previously wrote. "These "stragglers" hedge against less productive years. Stragglers that start broods of their own are called 'accelerations.' The cicadas that emerged in this region in 2017 may have been an 'acceleration' of Brood X."

Should the 2021 crew show up as expected, it would mark the 18th documented appearance of the Brood X cicadas, dating back to their first chronicling in 1715. According to The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, the brood was first noted by the Rev. Andreas Sandel in Philadelphia and then again by botanist John Bartram in 1732.

After their third emergence in 1746, Swedish explorer Pehr Kalm wrote about his amazement at the brood's vast spread and how constant their buzzing was.

"The general opinion is that these insects appear in these fantastic numbers in every 17th year. Meanwhile, except for an occasional one which may appear in the summer, they remain underground," he wrote in 1756 paper for a Swedish academic journal.

In popular culture, this particular brood has worked its way into books, poems and even in Bob Dylan's song, "Day of the Locusts". Dylan's 1970 album New Morning came out the same year Brood X cicadas swarmed Princeton, N.J., where he went on to receive an honorary degree that summer.

While Dylan referred to them as locusts in his song, thinking they were other noisy insects from the summer, historical appearances of the Brood X show they were likely this exact brood of cicadas descending on his area.

"And the locusts sang off in the distance Yeah, the locusts sang such a sweet melody Oh, the locusts sang off in the distance Yeah, the locusts sang and they were singin' for me."


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