ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A few weeks ago, we talked about how those with arthritis and other joint pain issues truly can feel when a storm is coming due to how air pressure affects the body.
Another tool people swear by when it comes to detecting oncoming rain is their noses! Many feel they can “smell” the rain coming, and we’ve all stepped outside after a nice downpour and gotten a whiff of that fresh, moist spring air… Something that you just can’t get on a dry, sunny day. So does rain really have a smell? As a matter of fact, yes; and in three different ways!
The first is when soil-dwelling bacteria produce spores, they secrete a chemical known as geosmin. When rain hits the soil, it helps to release geosmin into the air. This material has a distinct earthy, musky smell; in fact, the word geosmin derives from the Ancient Greek “geo-osme” which means “earth-smell”.
The second kind of rainy scent is called petrichor. Petrichor is a compound created by the reaction between rainwater and oils secreted by plants that have not been watered in some time. Alongside geosmin, petrichor has a refreshing, loamy odor that many find to be pleasing and spring-like.
In fact, there have been perfumes released that attempt to replicate the smell of petrichor. Some scientists have even theorized that people like the scent so much because our ancestors relied on rain for survival, and this scent scratches that primordial itch.
The third kind of rain smell is one you may pick up on before a storm arrives, and that’s ozone. What you’re essentially smelling is air that has been cooked by lightning. When lightning strikes, the amazing heat it produces breaks apart O2 molecules into separate oxygen atoms.
These free atoms then chemically combine with unbroken O2 molecules, producing O3: Ozone. Ozone has a very distinct stormy scent: metallic, clean, sweet, almost pungent and chlorine-like. The storm’s downdraft hits the ground and spreads out ahead, bringing the ozone-y scent with it; this is why you really can smell the storm before it arrives.
If you haven’t noticed any kind of smell from all the rain we’ve been getting this month, that’s because not enough time has passed in between each rainfall for geosmin or petrichor to form, and there haven’t been enough storms to produce any ozone.
Instead, this month has just smelt like defeat, at least on the weather front. We currently stand at 4.11″ of rain, two and a half inches above normal. Let’s hope for a bit of a break, so that we can once again properly enjoy one of Mother Nature’s finer fragrances.
First Alert Weather In-Depth: Does rain really have a smell? WHEC.com.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( First Alert Weather In-Depth: Does rain really have a smell? )
Also on site :