Mormon Crickets swarm Nevada elementary school

SPARKS, Nevada (KRNV) - The two-inch creatures are small, but when they travel by the millions, they can become intimidating.

"It was kind of a creepy feeling. You looked out the windows and there were dozens and thousands of bugs. And the entire lawn in the back was moving," said Sybella Pope-Sears, a teacher.

Mormon crickets are not dangerous to humans, but they are an inconvenience, especially for Jesse Hall Elementary School as their unwelcomed guest pushed them inside.

"We have had no outdoor recess the last two days because it felt like the plague. The mormon crickets were all over. They used blowers to move it away so that we could get students safely into the front doors without getting crickets inside. And they are still here," Pope-Sears said.

The creepy crawlers are not new to Nevada, but they seem to come back stronger every year.

Dr. Andrew Ness/UNR Entomologist and Associate Professor: "Nature occurs whether or not we have a purpose for it.” Dr Andrew Ness, UNR Entomologist and Associate Professor. “So, they exist in our landscape. Most of the time we don't interact with them when they're at lower population levels, but obviously, they tend to collide with us when we, when they're at higher population levels, whether it's in-home or, crop situations or on roads"

Mormon crickets always find a way to come back--- disrupting the lives of many, including students--but teachers are seeing this event as an opportunity to teach about the life cycle of the mormon crickets