BREMEN, Ind. -- Humidity will be peaking in Michiana Wednesday after some lovely, dry days to start the week. However, rural areas have been feeling humid every morning.
In more rural areas, humidity and heat index values could feel even higher due to crops being produced here. This is through a process called evapotranspiration, or something that's a little easier to say, "corn sweat."
When corn draws in water from the ground, it goes through its system and releases the excess on their leaves through pores called stomata. This is essentially the sweat of the plant, thus the name.
All plants go through evapotranspiration, but with how large corn as a singular plant is, it affects humidity more than other crops.
It isn’t just crops that affect the "feels-like" temperature of an area. Cities in Michiana have a phenomenon that can make it feel drier.
This effect is called the urban heat island, the idea that more developed areas don’t have a great way to diffuse heat, thus can get hotter than more natural areas
A lot of man-made structures have materials that are good at absorbing heat and reemitting it, whereas more natural areas are better at reflecting the energy we get from the sun. All the heat energy being reemitted can increase temperatures over five degrees in some areas.
This process can also make the air in a developed area feel drier since an increase in temperature would inversely affect the humidity.
A great way to mitigate these effects is more green spaces in urban areas.