
A heat dome and "corn sweat" are driving this week's dangerous heat wave
Why it matters: Heat warnings and advisories stretch from Louisiana and the Florida panhandle up to Chicago and beyond as of Tuesday afternoon, covering nearly 85 million Americans.
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 growing corn and other produce give off 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.
Zoom in: Conditions could be particularly brutal in Chicago, where the local National Weather Service office is warning of heat indices over 105°F for Wednesday and Thursday.
High humidity is especially dangerous, as Axios' Tina Reed and Natalie Daher recently reported, disrupting our bodies' ability to regulate temperatures.
Threat level: Long-duration heat waves can be particularly serious events, with warm evenings offering less of a reprieve and extreme heat having a cumulative effect on our health.
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.
What they're saying: " Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors," the NWS Milwaukee office advises.
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Hamilton Spectator
31 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
As the ADA turns 35, groups fighting for disability rights could see their federal dollars slashed
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Congress' first discussion of them, by the Senate Appropriations Committee, is set for Thursday, but the centers fear losing more than 60% of their federal dollars. The threat of cuts comes as the groups expect more demand for help after Republicans' tax and budget law complicated Medicaid health coverage with a new work-reporting requirement. There's also the sting of the timing: this year is the 50th anniversary of another federal law that created the network of state groups to protect people with disabilities, and Trump's proposals represent the largest potential cuts in that half-century, advocates said. The groups are authorized to make unannounced visits to group homes and interview residents alone. 'You're going to have lots of people with disabilities lost,' said Jensen, now president of Colorado's advisory council for federal funding of efforts to protect people with mental illnesses. 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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
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The Hill
4 hours ago
- The Hill
Tennessee school won't accept doctor's notes for absences
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