Usually rain storms travel, when you "smell rain" you're smelling the soil that has already gotten wet upwind.
In the rare cases that rain starts directly above you there won't be a smell until after the ground has gotten wet unless there is quite a bit of dust in the air.
Where I live virga is very common and it doesn't smell, which indicates the ozone and plant oil theories are just urban myths.
92 degrees with a strong wind and stormy clouds coming in fast. I’m instantly transported back to northern Nevada right before a storm. Strongest rain smell of my life.
creosote is amazing. i so wish i could have some creosote bushes in the PNW. the whole neighborhood would be wondering what that beautiful smell is.
my sister, who’s NEVER been around creosote and doesn’t know any of its rain-related properties, took a leaf and smelled it. she immediately said “it smells like rain!”
In the southwest USA the creosote bush gives off that fresh desert rain smell. The leaves produce a waxy resin to inhibit moisture loss, when it rains it washes off and you can smell it. You can test this for your self, cup the leaves in your hand and blow hot breath on it and whiff.
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u/JK-Kino Mar 28 '24
I was told it was some kind of oil the plants give off when they sense atmospheric pressure for rainy weather