This was my line of thought. Sure metal itself doesn't absorb water but in a humid environment, what's to stop little teeny tiny bits of air (containing relatively high humidity here) from getting stuck in the little pores and micro imperfections at the surface or anywhere between the rod and inert gas from the torch. Or creating a little oxidization on the outermost parts of the filler rod. And i'm not saying enough to fuck up the weld, but ever so slightly enough to get a slight dullness to the weld and not quite that glassy look like i've noted i only really see guys in the southwest be able to consistently get. I see dudes in socal or arizona posting mild steel welds on their truck done in a driveway that almost look like stainless and they say they've only been welding a few years but i have yet to find any guys in NJ doing the same even with 30years under their belt, close but not the same. Again this is all anecdotal and i'm open to changing my mind if i see a good point or a better explanation but i could totally see a 40-80% humidity difference year round having this effect yanno mayn
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