( CNN ) -- Chris McBee can now call himself a `` swarm chaser . '' The storm-chasing tour guide and car dealership employee in Norman , Oklahoma , is used to tornadoes and wicked weather . But on Tuesday , he found himself rushing after chirping hordes of crickets in store parking lots near his home . `` The crickets have been thick for a couple of days now , '' he said Wednesday . `` It 's worst at night where there are large lights , but they seem to be everywhere . There are carcasses everywhere in the morning too . It 's pretty gross . '' He had stopped by local businesses to collect video of the cricket explosion in western Norman when the bright lights of parking lots were like a beacon in the night for the creatures . McBee , 32 , said he has lived in Oklahoma all his life and never seen anything like this . He remembers seeing large numbers of crickets at a train station in Dallas about 10 to 15 years ago , but that 's about it . `` There are always a few crickets around in the summertime , but never a swarm like this , '' he said . Pictures of Oklahoma 's crickets have been all over social media this week , dotting Instagram feeds and hopping around Twitter . McBee 's own video became popular on CNN iReport . Got crickets ? Share your story on CNN iReport . He noted that numbers were dwindling a bit by Friday . Now , he said , he occasionally catches a whiff of their rotting carcasses , which are leaving a lingering , rotten smell in the brightly lit areas where the crickets were congregating -- like outside grocery stores . `` You can definitely smell dead crickets if there 's enough of them in the parking lot , '' he said , describing the stench as unpleasant , but not quite as intense as a rotting animal . Rick Grantham , an entomologist at Oklahoma State University , said a similar swarm of crickets occurred last year . Although the situation is reminiscent of a biblical plague , it 's hard to define the so-called invasion of crickets as a plague , per se . `` I suppose if you have 10,000 dead crickets staring at you , they might seem like a plague , '' he said . This year , Grantham said , a weather pattern of prolonged dryness followed by rainfall in July and August may be to blame . Similar patterns were observed in Dallas and the southern Great Plains . Thus , the region provides good egg-laying conditions , shelter , safety and plenty of food . Since they have short lifespans , the crickets tend to rush to reproduce when the conditions are right in the air -- and on the ground . `` The wetter and looser the soil , the easier it is for them to lay those eggs , '' he said . `` Boom , you just go into a huge mating frenzy . '' While the crickets are not considered an agricultural pest , Grantham said they are definitely a problem when they swarm , especially in commercial areas with bright security lights . `` You have the nuisance call and the high numbers and the dead bodies , '' he said . `` They might dive bomb you at a football game . '' To get rid of them , Grantham recommends cleaning out trash dumps , checking window and door seals , and removing nighttime light sources at home , if possible . Sprays or aerosols applied to hiding places are another possibility . The chirping bugs may have appeared a few weeks earlier this year than last , said Brian Jervis , Tulsa County Extension Horticulturalist . He knows because he has personally observed them . `` We were shopping Sunday and underneath the storefront , there would be hundreds of them , '' he said . `` People would have to go under them . '' In 2012 , Jervis noticed them arriving at the end of September , which coincided with the Tulsa State Fair . `` With all the lights around , people were having to dodge them , '' he said . `` That was a frenzy . '' Jervis said he is seeing an increase in calls from people wanting to know what to do about crickets . He suggests vacuuming loose crickets and varying the times that lights are on . Stomping on the bugs may seem like a good idea , but Jervis said that can backfire and cause the population to grow . `` We want to kill them to keep them from moving , but when you kill them , the other ones are going to come in and eat the dead ones , '' he said . Grantham said crickets will eat just about anything , including plant material and each other . `` Sometimes when they 're younger , they do practice cannibalism , and when they get older , they do eat dead crickets , '' he noted . When will they be gone ? Grantham said to give it another week , but some Oklahomans would say the sooner , the better .
Huge swarms of crickets have been springing up in Oklahoma , and on social media . Score: 6 Late-summer rainfall after long periods of dry weather may be to blame . Carcasses of dead crickets leave rotting smell for passersby .