I can almost always smell rain before it arrives.

It's very difficult to describe other than to say there is a distinct change in the air, possibly much fresher and sweeter.
It's something thats always stood me in good stead with my work, though I know I'm not unique in that respect.

Some say its down to the change in humidity of the approaching air, whilst others say its the effect of the rain on vegetation in the distance, the scent of which drifts along on the breeze ahead of the raincloud.

Spot on.

Perversely, I prefer the smell of a city to the smell of the countryside. It's not my fault, the people in charge of me when I was young lived in cities.

I haven't thought much about the source of the smell, Glasgow has the Clyde, London has the Thames, and when I was living in those places there were no fish in the waters. I suppose I could be wrong, but when you looked down all you could see was an oily mess. But isn't that were the eels came from?

Smells are difficult. I was happy on my terrace tonight with all the new smells brought in by the storm. But I couldn't walk the big dog because the street outside is flooded and found out that he had shit right in front of the terrace.

Man's best friend....don't you just love'em!!!!

I have the same experience. I tell my husband "it isn't going to rain today" sometimes, even though the forecast is for rain. Almost invariably I'm right. I can smell rain in the air too.
We also have glorious smells after rain from the pine and the rock rose. I think there's also a smell from the earth too. maybe it's the iron ore rusting!

That smell may well be bacterial aerosols too.

one smell I haven't found for a while.....
the smell of an approaching storm after a long dry period.
it is an electrical\magnetic smell that is so hard to describe.

anything like ozone?

well I was certainly affected by the heat this morning - or rather the lack of it!!

it's fiesta time here & almost every night atm there is a disco/rock concert or similar until at least 4am - & then our nearest peña seems to have a private drunken party until daybreak...................so we have been closing the front windows at night to cut out the worst of the noise, leaving the back ones open.

last night we closed the back windows because we had been promised a rainstorm (it looked like it was coming, too, but no joy)

when I got up this morning I opened all the windows ..............& promptly closed them.


it was 15º

Come on, Bil, leave us non-scientific humans with a bit of romance.

I heard a loud scream when I was in the shower this morning, but didn't panic because I recognised the scream. She didn't even sound guilty when she said goodbye through the closed bathroom door to go shopping with her mate.

It didn't take me long to locate the source of the smell (and the scream). It's not a smell I like, it's caused by Cucal, the anti-cucaracha spray. It lingers for hours.

I'm walking around quite nervous now, in case she missed.

like but not the same as,
as I say, it has an electrical\magnetic smell, and at times taste.

Ufff.

I didn't exactly get the thunderstorm I was hoping for but spent a happy hour or so last night watching lightning flashing out to sea - too far away to hear the thunder though.

I'm sorry H. I had no idea you were such a romantic. Roaches are the very devil. I read somewhere how long they can live with ther heads cut off, and I assumed it was a joke. (It wasn't)

In the Fabulous Furry Freak Bros (Ripoff Press) there was Commander Cockroach and his Roach Reich.

Happy days....

We were up on our roof terrace watching that last night, we are forty kms away from Malaga but could clearly see it lighting up the sky.

I know exactly what you mean Dom, though I suspect not everyone is as sensitive to the electrical changes in the atmosphere.

Another pointer for me is that my arthritis starts to play up, it never fails to warn me that the rain is on the way....one more reason to prefer living here rather than the UK.