Spotted lanternfly adult at Herrs Island backchannel, 25 July 2025 (pohto by Kate St. John)

29 July 2026

This week usually begins the peak of Pittsburgh’s spotted lanternfly season but I’ve seen only two red nymphs and two winged adults despite actively looking for them. What a relief that the invasion we experienced in 2023 is gone!

In fact spotted lanternflies (Lycorma delicatula, SLF) have moved on to new territory where they are horrifying a whole new set of people. This summer the frontlines are in Connecticut/Rhode Island/Massachusetts, Virginia, North Carolina, Atlanta area, northern Kentucky + Cincinnati and Tennessee.

By comparing Before and After we can see those frontlines on Cornell IPM’s spotted lanternfly county status maps –> July 2025 and May 2026.

At the height of their invasion in Pittsburgh we thought they’d never go away, but they do. In August 2023 I looked into the invasion experience in eastern Pennsylvania where they were first found in North America. People were amazed that the surge ended after a year or two. My guess at the time was that our experience would be a bell curve.

Spotted lanternfly invasion appeared to be a bell curve with maximum at 2-3 years (guesstimate by Kate St. John in August 2023)

The reality was even better than that, at least in Pittsburgh.

We first noted spotted lanternflies around 2020 and they took a few years to ramp up. The huge invasion year was 2023, then they tapered in 2024. Last summer they were hardly noticeable. This summer they’re hard to find so far.

Spotted lanternfly invasion appears to be a bell curve with maximum at 2-3 years (guesstimate by Kate St. John in Aug 2023)

So take heart if you’re on an SLF frontline this summer. Their invasion will not last forever. You’ll have one, maybe two summers of this nonsense and life will return to normal.

Read more about their timing in This Too Shall Pass.

Find out about their predators in Look Who Eats Spotted Lanternflies!

p.s. I don’t know about the year-upon-year experience of spotted lanternflies in vineyards where they are truly a pest. Do they ebb and flow? If you know, please leave a comment.