The Scream of Cicadas in Missouri Means Frost is Coming

If you'd like to predict the weather in Missouri, you need to listen to nature. One great example is the cry of the cicada. The fact that they've become a constant sound in the early evenings in Missouri means frost can't be that far away.

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My wife gave me outside chores to do last night involving the bird feeders in our yard. As soon as I opened the door, I heard them. What had to be a million cicadas in the vicinity of our neighborhood were crying at the top of their lungs. Combined with the crickets, it's an iconic Missouri evening sound, but it's also an indication of the weather according to legend.

Here's what the Missouri Department of Conservation said about what loud cicadas mean:

Because of the predictable timing of their emergence in the dog days of summer, the first soundings of annual cicadas figure into folk wisdom, such as calculating the number of weeks to the first frost. In Missouri, we typically start hearing annual cicadas in early July, and the date of first frost is in mid- to late October (both events depend on your location within the state and can vary somewhat each year). In our state, it's probably close to 16 weeks between hearing the first annual cicada calls and receiving the first frost.

This is a familiar sight near our Missouri home.

My wife is not a bug fan and the sound of the cicadas is creepy to her, but there's no doubt they are a vital part of Missouri's ecosystem and there's no sound quite like them in the early evenings. It lets you know that there will likely be a chill in the air sooner rather than later.