How ‘corn sweat’ is impacting humidity

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — During extreme heat people aren’t the only ones sweating. Scientists at Tennessee State University said parts of the United States that grow the most corn are seeing “corn sweat” impact their weather.

According to Dr. Resham Thapa a professor at TSU’s School of Agriculture and Environmental Science, the scientific term for corn sweat is evapotranspiration. He said it’s when plants release water into the atmosphere. Dr. Thapa said all plants do it and during times of extreme heat like we are experiencing now, they do it at a higher rate.

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“When you have a high temperature, higher heat stress, there is a lot more evapotranspiration happening from those corn crops, so it’s a cooling mechanism for the crop. But at the same time, when it comes to our side it increases the amount of humidity,” said Thapa.

The states that are seeing the highest increase in humidity caused by the corn sweat are the states that grow the most corn.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the top corn-producing states are Iowa and Illinois, with the other surrounding states in the midwest also top producers.

Tennessee and Kentucky don’t crack the top ten in corn production so the impacts of corn sweat aren’t enough to impact area weather at such a scale, but Dr. Thapa said you can feel its impacts if you walk through your local corn field.

“So right now I have an ongoing trial here planting one and a half acres of corn, at Tennessee State University. You can walk there anytime during the day, you are going to feel a lot of sweating happening,” he said.

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According to the National Weather Service office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, an acre of corn can release as much as 4,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere each day.

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