Before the rain begins, the first smell you may notice as winds pick up and clouds roll in is a sweet, pungent zing in your nostrils. That's the sharp, fresh aroma of ozone—a form of oxygen whose name comes from the Greek word ozein (to smell).
Molecules containing oxygen are split apart by the storm’s lightning, and the individual oxygen atoms recombine to form ozone. This ozone is carried down to the ground by vertical winds (the ‘down-draft’) and pushed ahead of the storm.
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