7 days ago
Kansas City impacted by heat dome and "corn sweat"
A heat dome — plus the "corn sweat" phenomenon in some areas — is bringing dangerous levels of heat and humidity to much of the country east of the Rockies this week.
Why it matters: Heat warnings and advisories stretch across the South and Midwest, through Kansas City and beyond, covering nearly 85 million Americans.
Zoom in: Conditions have been brutal in Kansas City, with more to come. The National Weather Service forecasts a high near 100°F Sunday-Tuesday.
High humidity is especially dangerous, as Axios' Tina Reed and Natalie Daher recently reported, disrupting our bodies' ability to regulate temperatures.
Driving the news: The main driver is hot, moist air being drawn up from the Atlantic and trapped by a high pressure ridge.
Also contributing in some places: "Corn sweat," wherein vast amounts of ripening corn and other produce give off large amounts of moisture through evapotranspiration, further increasing humidity levels in and around agricultural zones.
"While corn sweat is never the main reason for major heat," Axios Des Moines' Linh Ta wrote back in 2023, "it can add to it."
What they're saying: " This is the time of the year when humidity contributions from corn sweat are highest — around the time of tasseling and pollination, when the flower emerges from the corn stalk," as Iowa state climatologist Justin Glisan told the Washington Post.
Threat level: Extreme heat is the most deadly weather event in the U.S., and research has shown that human-driven climate change is making such events both more intense and more frequent.
