Trying to find out whether ability to smell rain goes with age

[stuckmotor]

I'm sixty-nine and don't think I've smelled rain in years. How about you other old folks?

 

[CalG]

I smell the change of "air quality" associated with humidity and density just prior to a rain. It happened just this evening as we sat after supper beside a small fire on the back deck.

I can't pick up a quick summer shower for beans however. After the rain is easy! ;-) And always a delight. We haven't had any rain to talk of here since Aug 4. The systems in the gulf may change things in a week or so... who can tell.

Same age within a year.

 

[MossRoad]

I'm sixty-nine and don't think I've smelled rain in years. How about you other old folks?

We don't smell it often, but did a couple weeks ago.

Here's an interesting article on it.

Why Can You Smell Rain? | Discover Magazine

And yes, our sense of smell diminishes with age.
Effects of ageing on smell and taste

 

[oosik]

I'm 78 and I can smell the rain coming. It comes out of the SW. I think what I mostly smell - the rain that has dampened the bone dry bunch grass.

 

[shovelmike]

I am 68, and so far I can smell approaching rain. For some reason flies start biting just before a rain storm.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I’m trying to figure out what smelling the no rain is like. It’s rained here every other day since 5-1. I can smell the mold!

I’ve lived in AZ and OR, among other places. Those 2 the most extreme, now Carolina giving Oregon a run for its money. In AZ YOU could smell the monsoons but, brother says no monsoons for last 2 years?

When it rains most the time (Carolina) that’s all you smell.

Funny, my neighbor was saying the same thing about not smelling rain etc. I explained that our bodies were designed to last maybe 35 years, after that things start breaking down.

 

[radioman]

im one of those who can smell rain as long there is a cold front of it. my timing can be off those by ten to 30 mins though:laughing: to either stopping too early or getting soaked.:ashamed:

 

[/pine]

It's usually the thunderstorms that reach well up into the atmosphere....but it's common for folks to smell ozone from approaching storms...it is distinctively different than other common earthy aromas associated with rain showers...

 

[stuckmotor]

When I was young I sometimes smelled rain on a tar and gravel road after a summer storm and thought it had to do with rain on hot tar. I read the information in one of Moss Road's links and was fine with that.
Someone said it was the smell of ozone and I was fine with that, then someone else said it couldn't be ozone because the ozone layer is so far above thunder storms that rain can't possibly wash down through it. Having liked the ozone explanation, I did some research and someone said ozone can be produced by the action of lightning. The ozone produced by my CPAP machine doesn't smell much like my memories of what I smelled after a thunderstorm. Anyhow I'm satisfied that I've lost the part of my since of smell that used to detect rain.
I'm beginning to think there are several different smells associated with rain and the pleasant one that I remember is one I'll never smell again.
Thanks to all who've contributed,
Stuck

 

[CADplans]

When the lightning lights up the sky, it creates ozone,,THAT is what you are smelling,,

You also smell ozone on sheets that are hung outside to dry.
Many people say the hung clothes smell "fresh" , what they smell is ozone on the fabric.
When the guy in the welding shop is welding aluminum, you can smell the ozone the welding process is creating.

As the storm approaches, the wind is blowing in the direction the storm is traveling, the air moves faster than the rain storm,,
so, the ozone is created, it arrives before the storm, you smell the storm,,,