Claim: Outdoor temperature can be determined by counting the chirps made by crickets.
Status: True.
— from a fact-check article by journalist Barbara Mikkelson on Snopes.com
Accurate reporting of temperatures has become more important as the world slowly descends into the burning hell of climate change. And as we all know, as something becomes more important, it simultaneously becomes more expensive.
Apparently, everything has become more important recently. Especially peanut butter, the price of which has increased by 50% since 2020. And don’t get me started about car insurance.
On the bright side, you don’t have to pay a penny to find out the outside temperature, if you have crickets in your neighborhood. People have known for centuries that the rate at which crickets chirp is directly related to the air temperature.
They make the chirping sound by rubbing their specially-designed wings together.
Only the male crickets have the special wings that allow them to chirp, however, and typically, when they are chirping, the males are desperately trying to attract females. Actually, I’m not sure how desperate they are. But in most species, there’s at least a hint of desperation. Ask me how I know.
Female crickets don’t need to chirp desperately, because, as in most species, the female holds all the cards.
To us humans, cricket chirping can remind us of fingernails on a chalkboard. But to a female cricket, it’s a love song floating on the evening air.
As the male cricket gets older, the special ridges on his wings that produce the chirp become worn, and the sound becomes more faint, and perhaps less appealing? But that doesn’t mean he’s stopped trying.
According to The Old Farmers Almanac:
To convert cricket chirps to degrees Fahrenheit, count the number of chirps in 14 seconds and then add 40 to get the temperature.
(There’s also a formula for calculating degrees Celsius, but it involves division as well as addition, so we’re going to skip that one.)
Can we believe the Old Farmers Almanac?
Dr. Peggy LeMone, a scientist living in Boulder, Colorado, conducted cricket research in 2007, and determined that — in her neighborhood, at least — counting the number of chirps in 13 seconds and then adding 40 gave an accurate temperature reading. So, almost identical to The Old Farmers Almanac formula.
Here’s the data:
Dr. LeMone’s research is partly funded by NASA. So we need to keep that in mind.
A team of journalists from PBS produced a 4-minute documentary explaining how (and why) crickets chirp. The male cricket also produces a slightly different (and somewhat more ‘macho’) chirp when confronting a second male, as a way of saying, “Hey, buddy, this is my turf. Beat it.”
Unless maybe they are both gay, which case, maybe it was romantic chirping after all? This theory has not been documented by scientists.
One drawback to cricket temperature readings: for some reason, the males stop chirping when the temperature drops below about 50 degrees. Which may have been the original source of the famous expression: “When you’re hot, you’re hot. When you’re not, you’re not.”
Numerous studies have shown that pets help improve our mood and lower blood pressure. And this is true even of crickets. In many Asian countries, crickets are a popular insect pet and studies have shown crickets help the well-being of the elderly.
Apparently, in Asia, the chirping sound brings to mind friendship — and perhaps romance — rather than fingernails on a chalkboard.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.