[Members] Does Your Corn Sweat ???

[Larry.Bartlett at DuncanAviation.com]

no wonder it was so unbearably humid during the Boogie


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Heat index is a measure of how hot it feels after the humidity, or 
moisture in the air, is figured in. Moisture in the Midwest can usually be 
tracked back to the Gulf of Mexico, but this time of year there is added 
moisture in the air, and it comes from sweating corn, experts say.
Corn sweat, or evapotranspiration, is part of the reason the air feels so 
muggy in July and August.
Corn, like all plants, gives off water vapor when it takes in carbon 
dioxide. It sounds pretty harmless when you are talking about a few 
plants, but the United States Department of Agriculture says that more 
than 90 million acres of corn is growing in the country's corn belt, which 
includes Wisconsin.
"An acre of full-grown corn can release up to 4,000 gallons of water into 
the air on a sunny day," said Justin Schultz of the National Weather 
Service.
"It's hard to quantify just how much of an increase to the humidity 
evapotranspiration causes," Schultz said. A National Weather Service heat 
index graph shows that an additional 15 percent of moisture can raise the 
heat index 24 degrees, causing 100 degrees to feel like 124 degrees.
How does this affect you? Your body sweats when it overheats. As the sweat 
evaporates off your skin, you experience a cool sensation.
But the more moisture in the air, the slower your sweat will evaporate, 
which decreases the ability of the body to cool. This can lead to maladies 
like heatstroke.
Though corn may not be the cause of the heatwave, the crop plays a role in 
how the heat makes you feel.
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