OSCO, Ill. — With temperatures expected to hit the triple digits this week, we're all looking for ways to beat the heat. Here's a tip: you might want to avoid the corn fields.
"People that live near a cornfield, you do experience more uncomfortableness, if you will, to the air," said News 8 Meteorologist Andrew Stutzke. "There is more moisture there."
Stutzke said corn sweat, or evapotranspiration, is to blame.
"Especially when we get to the end of July, the first part of August, corn sweat is all of the moisture that it is taking out of the ground, working through the plant and then gets evaporated into the atmosphere," Stutzke said.
The water evaporating is essentially cooling the plant, just like the way sweating cools us in the heat. However, unlike corn sweat, human sweat doesn't increase the humidity in the air.
This time of the summer is peak time for corn sweat. Corn growth peaks around the same time summer temperatures do, intensifying the heat effect. Soy beans contribute to it too.
While that heat is uncomfortable for us, it's healthy for the crop.
An acre of corn can add 3,000-4,000 gallons of water a day to the atmosphere, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
"It'll be uncomfortable the next couple days," said Henry County farmer Steve Nightingale.
Nightingale farms on 1,500 acres in Osco. That means his farm land could add up to 6,000,000 gallons of water a day.
"I hadn't thought about [corn sweat] much, and it makes sense," Nightingale said. "I mean, the amount of water that a corn plant requires to grow is huge. This time of year when we're tasseling or just post-pollination, the corn plant should use about a third of an inch of rain a day. More on days like this when it's going to be as hot as it is."
The amount of water being released into the atmosphere depends on temperature, humidity, amount of soil moisture and amount of sunlight.
Nightingale, like many area farmers, has been dealing with dry conditions this summer. Since May 7, he's only had three inches of rain, short about seven to eight inches.
"The crops look really good for what they've been through," he said. "But I'm really nervous with the heat we've got coming on the next couple days, what it'll do."
Given his drier soil, Nightingale wonders about the impact on the typical corn sweat-boosted humidity.
"I think we would have less corn sweat here than the areas that have received beneficial rain lately," he said.
"If these crops don't have a huge amount of moisture to pull from in the ground, they're not going to be able to put as much moisture into the air," Stutzke said. "However, the rainfall that we got most recently came at the most critical time, so crops are able to utilize what rain and moisture did fall, that we're still seeing corn sweat. It may not be to the magnitude of years that we've had in past, but it's definitely there this year."
The evapotranspiration process will begin to slow in mid to late August as the plants start to mature, using less water.
Watch more news, weather and sports on News 8's YouTube channel