What are your memories of the smells of rain?
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The smells people associate with rainstorms can be caused by a number of things. One of the more pleasant rain smells, the one we often notice in the woods, is actually caused by friendly bacteria! Actinomycetes, a type of filamentous bacteria, grow in soil when conditions are damp and warm. When the soil dries out, the bacteria produces spores in the soil. These spores have a distinctive, earthy smell we often associate with rainfall. The bacteria is extremely common and can be found in areas all over the world, which accounts for the universality of this sweet “after-the-rain” smell.
May 28, 2009 at 1:25 pm
We had a ton of rain in southeast Texas where I grew up – usually as magnificent thunderstorms. I distinctly remember a “dirt” smell as the rain started and stirred up all sorts of stuff. Even though the same smell occurs here on the East Coast, it always reminds me of home.
May 28, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Everything about rain delights me: the smells, the sounds, the new greenery and flowers afterwards…
May 29, 2009 at 6:59 am
One of the smells I experience is that which occurs before the rain arrives. Inspired by Tamara’s revelation of post-rain smells I decided to search for a pre-rain smells explanation and discovered this:
Probably the best research on this was done in 1966 by CSIRO scientists, who
wrote a paper called “Genesis of Petrichor”. “Petrichor” comes from “petri”,
meaning “rock”, and “ichor” is the ethereal colourless fluid that was said to flow
in the veins of the Greek gods. Petrichor’s proper chemical name is 2-decanone.
The scientists produced this chemical (with the correct smell) by running steam
over rocks that had been left out in the open. The chemical didn’t come from
bacteria or fungi, because the scientists were still able to produce the chemical
even after they blasted the rocks with chemicals to kill any life forms on them.
Scientists now know that trees release about 450 million tonnes of chemicals into
the atmosphere each year. They believe some of these chemicals may be
absorbed into rocks, and then released whenever there is a sudden jump in
humidity (such as occurs just before rain).
May 29, 2009 at 7:51 am
Yesterday, I took a bike ride in the rain. It was so healing and soft. It was so gentle that I didn’t really get wet. It felt like a blessing just getting dampened with moisture.
My daugter (13)loves putting on her bathing suit when it is pouring out and jumping around outside until she is drenched. She laughs and tumbles and she has said that it puts her in a good mood. She loves the rain!
May 31, 2009 at 6:55 am
My husband and I were just walking through a garden center after a day of rain yesterday and I mentioned how I adored the smell of moist soil! There is something so fragrant and real about the ground when it is all wet from the rain. I just love it!
June 1, 2009 at 10:09 pm
My family moved to Arizona from Virginia when I was twelve. The smell of rain in Arizona was much stronger than anything I had smelled before. Since I hated Arizona when I first moved there, I thought the smell was horrid. But the desert has a way of growing on you. I came to love the smell of rain – which was really the smell of wet dust. I’ve never smelled it quite as strongly anywhere else. I miss it.
July 6, 2009 at 8:18 pm
feeling nostalgic, searched for “smells of east coast”
imagine if you will:
“changes come” by over the rhine playing, a sad nostalgic song, stepping out onto the balcony of my second floor apartment, cigarette in hand. rain is falling, neither heavy nor light, soft pitter patter all around; the smell is pungent and subtle. As the cold just starts to seep through the warmth i carried from inside my ciggie burns down and i go back in.
best memory of rain. i miss it.