The Sweet Smell of Weather

After much bribery on my part, Brendan Heberton has consented to a guest post by yours truly. I'm new to this, and certainly not as seasoned a blogger as Brendan. However, I will do my very best to live up to the high standards to which my gentle readers hold this blog.

Thinking of you, my reader, I realize that I am a stranger to you. I know nothing about what foods you like, what your life's goals are, whether you're a student or an employee, perhaps self-employed. But I know that we share, among other things,--smell. 

And I am sure of another thing. I am sure that you go outside at least once a day, and with the historical product of instinct you sniff the air. Moments later you remember your first haircut, your grandmother in the kitchen, the first funeral you ever attended. 

This time of year you are probably smelling approaching thunderstorms and the odor of fresh rain. But have you ever held rainwater to your nose and sniffed it? It hardly registers on the palette. 

So what's the smell?

One common cause of that rain smell is ozone. Yes, OZONE! The high voltage electrical discharges within a storm can create ozone (O₃). That ozone is delivered to your smelling arena by downdrafts in the storm system that surge the ozone ahead of the storm. And you stand on your front porch and smell it. You might also recognize this smell as coming from a photocopier or lazer printer! The high voltage discharges inside these machines produce enough ozone to make you second guess your decision to go shopping without an umbrella or oil-coated rain jacket. 

Other times you might notice a smell that arises from the earth during or after a rain event. That bouquet, my dear reader, speaks to the thriving life of a bacteria. Put a name to the smell for God's sake! It's ACTINOMYCETES! And that musky smell tells the story of spores that are produced en masse during dry periods, only to be kicked up into your nose after a rain session. 

So next time you sniff the air and think of good ol' grammaw or fresh laundry, don't forget to thank violent electrical discharges and ravenous bacteria.