This process is called sublimation. The opposite (deposition) is where a gas turns directly into a solid. Sublimation occurs if the pressure and temperature are right for the specific substance, so that the solid phase in a phase diagram borders the gas phase.
Most cicadas go through a life cycle that lasts from two to five years. Some species have much longer life cycles, such as the North American genus, Magicicada, which has a number of distinct broods that go through either a 17-year or, in some parts of the world, a 13-year life cycle.
It's Just Our Turn. There are 15 groups â or broods â of cicadas that are on life cycles of either 13 or 17 years. They appear mostly in the eastern and central parts of the U.S. Last spring, it was a brood in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa that had its coming out.