Abstract The convection of humid and dry air was studied experimentally. The observed fluid convection involves two mechanisms of heat and mass transfer: thermal convection produced by temperature gradient and concentration convection occurred due to the inhomogeneous vapor distributions induced by evaporation and condensation of water. The convection stability of humid air was described in terms of two (thermal and concentration) Rayleigh numbers. Laboratory experiments were performed using holographic interferometry and thermocouple techniques. Experimental holograms were processed numerically in order to calculate the space distribution of the refractive index in relation to temperature and vapor concentration. The results show that the difference between moist convection and dry convection can be measured even in the absence of evaporation and condensation. The experimental interferograms for dry air (intentionally dried up to 4 % relative humidity) are given. The justification of this research requires an additional quantitative comparison with the measurements obtained for humid air (with 100 % relative humidity) undergoing the first-order phase transition of the “gas-liquid” type.