http://www.koco.com/news/28800818/detail.html

NORMAN, Okla. -- An entomologist at Oklahoma State University says the record-setting heat and ongoing drought in Oklahoma is causing grasshoppers to move into urban areas in search of food.

Rick Grantham, who also is a professor at OSU, told The Norman Transcript that the lack of green vegetation in more rural areas has driven the insects into cities statewide.

"They eat green things, and green things are few and far between right now," Grantham said. "Your green lawn or garden is like a flashing cafe sign to them."

The insect population statewide is down this year, Grantham said, because of the drought and extreme heat, factors that bode well for the countless grasshoppers walking, flying or hopping around the rest of the state.

"A lot of insects eat grasshopper eggs before they hatch but we're not seeing a lot of other insects because of the conditions," Grantham said. "And grasshoppers do well in these conditions, so it's no surprise to see so many of them right now."

The month of July was the hottest month ever in Oklahoma based on records dating to 1895, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, with an average daily temperature of 89.1 degrees

The western two-thirds of the state is in an exceptional drought, according the U.S. Drought Monitor, while most of the eastern one-third is in extreme drought.