Why are cicadas so loud right now?

PALM DESERT, CALIF. (KESQ)- After recent humidity and monsoon moisture, many Coachella Valley residents say they’re hearing more cicadas than usual.

The Coachella Valley is experiencing higher humidity as monsoonal moisture moves into the desert. While many people associate cicadas with extreme heat, experts say humidity also plays a role in their emergence and activity. College of the Desert has previously explained that the desert's annual cicadas typically emerge in July and August when humidity increases.

Venessa Frutos, a resident, "I thought they were like from the electricity poles, sometimes you can hear a buzzing from the lights. I thought it was that not really bugs."

Alanne, a resident, is so used to the sound they have blocked it out "I actually haven't noticed them this summer at all. I think I have some kind of a, an ear intolerance for them."

Jose Aguilar, a technician for Renegade Pest Control said "Here in the valley, we get the annual cicadas. And those ones youre going to see them every year. But we have the periodical cicadas that they go every 13 years or 17 years as when they come out... But we don't get them here."

Aguilar also said "We get more cicadas when he gets humid because the soil gets soft. So they emerge from the underground. The humidity is what brings them from underground. But the heat is the one that he makes them make that noise because they're cold blooded."

The buzzing noise that the cicadas make has a purpose, and it only comes from males. The males do that noise so they can attract the females and the louder they get, the more chances they have to find the female.

Cicadas will not bite, sting and are not venomous. They also will not hurt like crops, trees, and any type of vegetation."

Stay tuned for my full story at 5 to see if there actually more this year, or are weather conditions simply making them more active?