ORLANDO, Fla. – Ever wondered if crickets could be your backyard meteorologists? Well, believe it or not, these tiny chirpers have a talent for telling us about the weather — sort of.
Here’s the deal: the number of chirps crickets produce changes with the temperature.
In 1897, a scientist named Amos Dolbear noted the correlation between the two and published an article titled “The Cricket as a Thermometer.”
To figure out how warm or chilly it is outside, you can count their chirps for 15 seconds and then add 40. Voila! That number gives you a rough estimate of the temperature in Fahrenheit.
How do crickets even make that noise? It’s the males who are the noise makers. Male crickets have this little scraper thingy on one wing that they rub against a series of bumpy files on the other wing.
Depending on how close or far apart these bumpy files are, the pitch of their chirp changes. It’s like their own tiny violin concert, but with more enthusiasm.
Now, why all the chirping, you ask? Well, crickets have a lot to say.
Sometimes it’s a love song, trying to snag a date with a lady cricket. Other times, it’s a bit of a showdown between two guys, or a warning siren when they sense trouble nearby. Imagine if humans communicated like that. “Hey there, danger over here!” or “Wanna go for coffee?” all in chirps.
By the way, crickets belong to the group called Orthoptera, which also includes grasshoppers, locusts and their quirky cousins like katydids and wētā. They’re basically the insect equivalent of a big, diverse family.
So, next time you hear those chirps, remember: crickets might just be the backyard weather watchers, bringing their own brand of summer charm to the great outdoors.
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