all right Nate thank you well certainly not something you can see but it is something you can feel it's called corn sweat and it's adding to the intensity of the heat wave that we are experiencing Casey kronis is live in the western suburbs to explain it all hi Casey hi Don and Scott agricultural experts tell me that corn sweat is something they are often asked about this time of year and it is trending in online searches this week corn sweat occurs through a process each summer called transpiration where water is taken up from the roots through the corn plant before it is sent into the atmosphere in an evaporated State this makes already hot days like today feel even muggier at its peak earlier this summer experts with the University of Illinois say corn sweat was putting several thousand gallons of water per acre into the air each day that as the corn crop continues to mature right now and yes we're having a really hot stretch of weather right at the moment the actual amount of moisture that's being put out by the corn crop right now is very small compared to what it was like a couple of months ago well if you were talking say six weeks ago it could have been putting several thousands of gallons per acre uh of water into the air each day there are currently more than 11 million acres of corn planted in Illinois right now and experts say that corn is is not as far along where we are compared to down state so that means added moisture for us reporting live from Klein Creek Farm in West Chicago Casey cronis Fox 32 Chicago