the smell of a storm?

Question

there is a raging thunder and lightening storm outside and all i smell is raw liver and pennies. its so gross and no one else smells it. is something wrong with me or what?

no, not pregnant...FOR SURE

Answer 1

I too have smelled these odors.. not just you. The scent of metal and a pungent overpowering stench of raw meat. I don't think that the lightning hit a cow that was loaded with money :-)

Here's some info that I found:

"The air can smell scorched by lightning. As a searing bolt breaks up molecules of oxygen, nitrogen and water vapour, these combine to form new, highly pungent substances, particularly ozone, ammonia and nitrogen acids."

In fact, scientists have shown that the building blocks of life (amino acids and organic molecules) can originate from lightning strikes.

Perhaps the rain is mixing with "earthy" substances on the ground. In this light, I enjoyed this beautiful account of Native Americans in the Southwest:

"...However, with the fear there was a balance. These women showed us that balance. The balance came in the form of knowing the beauty of these desert storms. The beauty was in the air. The odor of wet dirt that precedes the rain. People like to breathe deeply of this wet dirt smell, it is the smell not only of dirt but of the dry bark of mesquite and other acacias. It is the smell of the fine dust that must settle on all the needles and spines of saguaro and all manner of cactus, the dust that settles on the fine leaves of ocotillo and other leafed plants. It is all those things that give off an aroma only when mixed by rain."

Answer 2

Hmm... well that's probably something in the atmosphere around you. Storms seem to have a smell, but not that kind of smell. It's more like a natural smell, like plants and... um... water. If you're around something made of metal (especially copper), and it's getting wet, it might smell like pennies. As for the liver, I don't know. Maybe you smell the worms that come up from the ground when it rains.

Answer 3

That is not the smell of the storm. Are you sure there isn't a dead animal lurking around your home??

PS: What do pennies smell like?? (curious)

PSS: What are you doing on the computer in the middle of a thunder storm?!

Answer 4

you are smelling ozone, which is produced by the storm and acculmulates near the ground after the storm. but be careful, if the smell is really strong, you may want to relocate to a different area, as too much ozone will kill you.

Answer 5

your probably smell ozone or something dead because storms don't usually smell like raw liver and pennies.

Answer 6

You may be smelling ozone. Ozone is created during lightning storms.

Answer 7

like it, i constantly scent the rain in the previous it gets right here. kinda like mom natures warning for me to bypass roll my living house windows up. i dunno why however the scent of rain is calming to me, in spite of if the hurricane is undesirable.

Answer 8

ozone

Answer 9

are you pregnant?