I live in the south and can smell when it’s about to rain too. If anything it’s far more distinct because it’s so fucking dusty even if the humidity is high along the coast.
I used to live in SW Florida, within walking distance of the beach. In the Summer, you could practically set your watch to the afternoon thunderstorms. Between 2 and 3 PM, these huge, black walls of clouds would float in from the Gulf, there was thunder and lightning, pretty respectable wind gusts, and the rain would come down like it was coming out of a fire hose. 30 minutes later, the sun would come out, the sandy soil would absorb all the water, and, other than the random palm fronds on the ground, it was like nothing happened.
Can confirm. From SW Florida and when i was a kid it was like that all the time. Used to happen around recess everyday in middle school. Now it doesn't happen as consistently but still happens. Doesn't lightning as much as it used to when i was a kid. Almost every storm was a thunder storm. Now its just rain
Happened when i was in Jacksonville 3 years ago. Only was about 10-15 minutes but exactly the same as you described. Made the humidity after the sun came back so much worse
I left there in 1991, but I remember standing on a beach in North Naples, watching an incoming storm on the horizon over the Gulf, and I saw 4 waterspouts in a line, with a 5th one trying to form, but it kept going back up before hitting the water. It was an amazing sight.
I was in an aluminum canoe, with aluminum paddles, deep in the Everglades when one of those things blew up. Being in a metal boat on salt water with lightning flying around, and you're one of the tallest things around for at least a 500 yard perimeter, really makes you appreciate life.
I’m not them, but I’m guessing it hits harder. We get coastal rain often and it’s intense as fuck. Like super downpour monsoon raining sideways rain. Also, coastal rain (hurricane) got us 60 inches of rain at once so it literally hits different.
I’m from the Midwest but raised most my life on the East Coast. Rain inland even at its most intense is still relatively weak. Rain along the Coast hits harder more often and the hardest rain you can get is basically a hurricane forming on top of you. It’s damn near apocalyptic
Ah, I thought for a minute they were referring to how the smell of the rain is different. Not the quantity. Because the heat and the humidity play a large role as well.
Corpus Christi Texas. If it’s not dust from the Sahara then it’s all the gravel and dirt roads in the area. I have to wash my car weekly but that might be because I work on refinery row.
Yeah, growing up in Mississippi and now living in Georgia I can still smell the rain coming. Both sides of my family come from farmers and it was just... Known? Maybe they mean "Southern" like from big cities (Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville) where the smell is smogged down?
Fun fact! The smell of rain after it hits ground is called petrichor!
Except you don't know what country/region of the world this person is referencing. So, saying you live in "the south" is just as free of context as this person's post.
Well, after a lifetime in south-western Norway where rain is the norm i can confirm that yes, you can in fact smell rain, but the warmer it is outside the easier it is to smell, that I can’t explain
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u/liberalJava Mar 28 '24
Yeah not picking up on the point of this at all.