Is corn to blame for high humidity?

Country reading
A piece of weather equipment measures the dew point on a sticky July day near a corn field south of St. Cloud. The humidity here is higher than in the city. Some weather experts think corn causes higher humidity, and in turn more severe weather.
MPR photo/Tim Post

Their theory is that corn and other crops send water into the atmosphere, raising humidity and even causing more severe weather.

We asked MPR reporter Tim Post to investigate. He went out with Bob Weissman, a meteorologist at St. Cloud State University, to take dew point measurements around the St. Cloud area to see whether there really is a connection between corn and humidity.

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