They congregate on patios, slip into stairwells and, if they’re crunched under foot, oh do they stink. Crickets have arrived in force, annoying Texans earlier than usual – thanks to the year’s wet weather in much of the state.

The problem is so bad at the University of Texas at Austin that school officials are taking the unusual step of darkening the 307-foot-tall bell tower for three nights the next two weekends in hopes of keeping the insects away. The bugs are attracted to lights.

Typically, field crickets head into cities from their normal rural habitat in early fall for mating flights after rain, once the ground becomes soft enough for egg-laying. This year, after weeks of soaking summer rain, the ground is soft earlier than usual.

[Read](http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2007-07-26-cricket-invasion_N.htm “Read the Story”) (AP via USA Today)