Warmer temperatures in Missouri leads to more 'Corn Sweat'

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -You can blame the corn for higher humidity.

If you've noticed more humidity lately, it might be due to your local corn field.

Mizzou Climatologist Zack Leasor says this phenomena is known as "corn sweat"

"When you have all these crops that are maturing around the same time at the same time of year, you can get a really big spike in kind of local moisture and kind of see some of that localized humidity from those plants," said Leasor on Total Information A.M. Thursday. "And so that's why we call it that corn sweat or when it's releasing a lot of water."

Leasor says for those who live in the Midwest, the term in starting to become more common.

"'Corn Sweat' is definitely becoming a familiar term and it really kind of represents some of the characteristics we see with some of this late season heat and contributions from our plants to the humidity." said Leasor.

Leasor says soy bean crops also do something similar to corn crops as well.

"The kind of size of the plant determines a lot of how much water that plant's able to move back to the atmosphere," said Leasor. "So soy beans aren't as big of the contributor as the corn, but certainly, definitely still taking up quite a bit of water."

Leasor says the phenomenon is unique to Missouri and the Midwest due to the region's large-scale corn production.

Leasor also adds that Missouri’s corn crops can cause a spike in local moisture and humidity as they mature.