SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Heat and humidity are signs of summer in KELOLAND, and another sign of summer can make humidity.

In this week’s Flashback Friday, we take you back to 2004 with Meteorologist Brian Karstens, to explain the effect corn has on our humidity.

Do you ever wonder why the humidity is so high this time of the year? Well, for the answer look no further than a local cornfield, and to prove my point, we’re going to find out how much water a single corn plant can evaporate on a hot summer day. 

Unlike some plants, corn releases water into the atmosphere day and night. Just by standing in the field, you can feel the moisture increase. Take a look at the roots on these plants. They are tremendous and can reach several feet down into the ground, grabbing every ounce of available water.  To capture the moisture produced by the plant, at 10 a.m. I placed a clear sheet of plastic over a single stalk, and wired the bottom tight to hold in all the humidity that evaporates from the corn. 

“Alright, we’re all done here and as were about ready to pack up and come back, we can already see a few little droplets of water. So we’ll be back in about 4 hours.” 

“It’s 2 o’clock now, and time to check in on our experiment, and as you can see the results are impressive.”

“This bag feels wet.” “That’s a lot of moisture for one corn plant.” 

As you can see, this simple experiment shows that our crops in KELOLAND really do have an effect on our weather. One that you can feel on days like this.