The science behind why you can smell storms ahead of arrival

Have you ever been outdoors ahead of an incoming storm? Have you ever smelled a distinct fragrance from that moment? If you have, it's not the actual storm making that smell. The lightning creating ozone is actually to blame.

There is plenty of oxygen (O2) available in the atmosphere. Whenever lightning heats up the environment it can disassemble the O2. Whenever the oxygen atoms re-assemble they can form O3 known as Ozone.

This ozone creates the distinct smell many have become familiar with.

Downdrafts from the storm will then blow the ozone to the surface of the earth and it will race ahead of the housing storm signaling its approach.

During long periods of drier conditions such as the drought we are seeing here in Mid-Missouri, plants will coat themselves with a specific liquid. When this liquid becomes saturated it releases a separate fragrance.