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A suffocating heat wave is punishing the Midwest right now with around 61 million Americans currently under excessive heat watches and warnings as temperatures in Illinois rival those of Florida and many are facing ‘real feel’ temperatures in excess of 113 degrees. As all of this is unfolding, millions of Americans are suddenly learning the term ‘Corn Sweat’ as it’s believed Corn Sweat is exacerbating the heat wave leading to record temperatures for millions.
What Is Corn Sweat? A Folksy Term For Evapotranspiration
The ‘A Dictionary of Earth Sciences’ definition for evapotranspiration (ET) is “water lost from the surface of the soil or open water as vapor (evaporation) and from the surface of plants as water vapor (transpiration).” Due to the current weather in the Midwest, evapotranspiration (ET) is being called ‘Corn Sweat’ and for good reason.
One single acre of corn can release up to 3,000 gallons of water per day into the atmosphere. The state of Iowa is proudly home to over 12.9 million acres of corn. Illinois boasts 10.9 million acres of corn.
Of course, *not all* of those acres are releasing 3,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere each day but with the current heat dome that is crushing the Midwest let’s just assume, for the sake of this thought experiment, that they are releasing all of that today. That would be approximately 71,400,000,000 gallons of water released through ‘Corn Sweat’ into the Midwest today from these record-breaking temperatures.
In this thought experiment, that would be roughly 108,181 olympic-sized swimming pools worth of Corn Sweat dumped into the atmosphere which would drive the relative humidity through the roof from Kansas City to Washington, D.C. In fact, many outlets are outright claiming evapotranspiration (ET) or ‘Corn Sweat’ is a major driving force of this heat dome punishing the Midwest.
Who is saying what?!
Scientific American says ” heat wave is sending temperatures soaring in the Midwest, and “corn sweat” is pushing humidity sky-high.” NBC 5 Chicago writes “All of northern Illinois is under an excessive heat warning on Tuesday, but a phenomenon known as “corn sweat” will make the conditions even more challenging.”
WTOL meteorologist Chris Vickers says “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
Other meteorologists across the Midwest are scrambling to put together segments explaining this regional weather phenomenon:
Is Corn Sweat Outright Causing The Midwest Heatwave? Not Necessarily
Currently, there are two main contributing factors to the record-setting temperatures in the Midwest: moist air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico and bringing a heat wave from Texas with it… and corn sweat. Which, it’s worth mentioning, isn’t only caused by corn. Other Midwest crops like soybeans also lead to evapotranspiration (ET).
So this is a two-pronged front of very hot, very moisture-laden air that is crushing the Midwest for the next few days.
I spoke with at least one person on the BroBible team who has lived in Illinois/Iowa for his entire life and he claims he has never heard the phrase ‘Corn Sweat’ until now. There’s no reason to believe him. I heard a similar report from other friends living in Illinois who I reached out to for comment.
While this is a nickname for a very real phenomenon, evapotranspiration (ET), it does appear that mainstream media is looking for something to discuss with the Atlantic tropics unseasonably idle for this time of year…