CHICAGO (AP) – The Midwest’s first dangerous bout of heat and humidity this summer is partly to blame on the moisture piped out of the ground and into the atmosphere by the increasing acreage of corn crops reaching peak maturity, meteorologists and atmospheric researchers say.
That muggy mist, jokingly called “corn sweat,” gets blown around the country, even enveloping more distant urban areas, like Chicago and Minneapolis. The phenomenon – long familiar to weather geeks, less so to the rest of us – spawned playful banter on social media this week. As heat indexes top the 100-degree mark, here is a look at the steamy situation and the role of golden ears of corn:
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EVAPO-WHAT?
Evapotranspiration, the technical term for “corn sweat.” The American Meteorological Society defines it as “the combined processes through which water is transferred to the atmosphere from open water and ice surfaces, bare soil and vegetation that make up the earth’s surface.”