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Right now, a super hot heat wave is hitting the Midwest. It’s so bad that 61 million people are under heat watches and warnings. In Illinois, it’s almost as hot as Florida, with some places feeling like 113 degrees!
Millions are learning about “Corn Sweat.”
‘Corn Sweat’ is a term for evapotranspiration (ET). ET means water turns into vapor from soil and plants.
One acre of corn can release up to 3,000 gallons of water daily into the air. Iowa has over 12.9 million acres of corn. Illinois has 10.9 million acres.
Imagine if all those acres released 3,000 gallons each day. That’s around 71,400,000,000 gallons in the air today.
That’s like 108,181 Olympic-sized swimming pools! This would make the humidity skyrocket from Kansas City to Washington, D.C.
Many believe ‘Corn Sweat’ is making this heat dome worse in the Midwest.
Who is saying what?!
Scientific American says the heat wave is soaring in the Midwest and ‘corn sweat’ is pushing humidity high. NBC 5 Chicago notes northern Illinois is under an excessive heat warning, worsened by ‘corn sweat.’
WTOL meteorologist Chris Vickers shares, “One acre of mature corn can release 3,000 gallons per day! This adds to the extreme mugginess we are currently feeling” and shared this graphic on how it all works:
Here's a bit more on how this Corn Sweat thing works. pic.twitter.com/BYQtBL17l6
— Chris Vickers (@ChrisWTOL) August 26, 2024
Meteorologists across the Midwest are rushing to explain this phenomenon.
Is Corn Sweat Outright Causing The Midwest Heatwave? Not Necessarily
The record temperatures have two main causes: moist air from the Gulf of Mexico bringing heat from Texas and corn sweat. Other crops like soybeans also cause evapotranspiration (ET).
This creates a front of very hot, moisture-filled air crushing the Midwest for days.
