How can deforestation influence local temperatures through evapotranspiration?

Deforestation influences local temperatures by disrupting the natural cooling effect provided by evapotranspiration.

Under normal conditions, vegetation facilitates the transfer of water from the soil into the atmosphere through transpiration and evaporation. This process consumes significant amounts of thermal energy to convert liquid water into water vapour, a process known as latent heat storage. Because this energy is used for phase change rather than heating the air, it effectively minimizes the sensible heating of the air near the ground, thereby keeping daily maximum temperatures lower.12

When forests are removed, this cooling mechanism is lost. Without the vegetation to facilitate latent heating, more solar radiation is converted directly into sensible heat, which raises the temperature of the surrounding air. Consequently, the land surface may experience significant warming, particularly in tropical regions where this process occurs year-round, and in midlatitudes during the summer. In the absence of such moisture-driven cooling, local climates can shift toward the extreme heat conditions typically observed in desert environments.21