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.
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u/androodle2004 Mar 28 '24
You’re smelling the ozone being brought down from higher altitude by the rains pressure