What does snow smell like

This is what causes the flakes to fall: When the atmosphere hits the maximum amount of moisture it can hold, it reacts by dumping some of the moisture—whether in the form of rain, sleet, or in this case, snow—back onto the ground. That humidity has the added effect of giving your olfactory system a quick boost. To many people, the sensation of being able to smell with a warm, moist nose in freezing weather is linked with the promise of snow.

You sense the cold air you breath with your trigeminal nerve, the same nerve that interprets sensations caused by tingly hot peppers or cool mint toothpaste it also interprets other facial sensations and is why you might sneeze in sunlight. This is separate from your olfactory system, but you still lump the information it gives you with conventional scents like coffee or pine. Rain has a scent as well. Are you old enough to remember freshly washed clothes being hung on a line to dry?

Do you remember what the bedsheets smelled like? That, to me is what snow smells like — clean and fresh. It gave me energy and loved how it made me feel. The scent is faint, but it has that sweet subtle heaviness which is different. Thank you for bringing it up.

As a child growing up in Shelburne Falls, MA. To me snow smells clean with a hint of negative ions. I grew up in Philadelphia. As a kid, I could definitely tell if it was going to snow. I was always right but often right. First…the winter weather would get unexpectedly warmer. Then there was the smell. Cold winter air is very dry.

If it warmed up and the air smelled moister…good chance it was going to snow. A theory a colleague of mine had when I mentioned this, and he agreed about these indicators, is that when the winter air warms up it has a higher capacity to hold moisture.

Or…the warmer air that come along is already moist from wherever it came from. Either way, you now have conditions you can sense and are precursors to potential precipitation. They are an aberration. So…the cold comes back. But way does snow smell different after it falls to the ground and lays there? And to me…snow on the ground smell sort of like a musty damp basement, but far more subtle and cleaner smelling.

More appealing than repulsive like musty dampness. And it has a twinge of a metallic or rusty smell. Is this related to the smell of snow? The other day it snowed where I live, and the previous day I had walked outside and the air smelled like snow. Snow absolutely has a smell. And you can definitely smell it before it falls. Kind of a musty steel smell? Fresh and crisp. I also used to live in western mass and it started there around ish.

Everyone can smell it. I really miss how snow used to smell! Especially here in the woods. This creates a void for our olfactory system and allows our noses to pick up on subtle scents, including humidity. One of the most prevalent yet subtle scents in the natural world is that of H2O. The smell of water, however subtle, is ever present on a snowy day. Scientists believe such humidity combined with the lack of other scents competing for sensory attention creates the smell of snow as we know it.

Once our noses have entered a cold environment, our nervous system responds by activating the Trigeminal Nerve. This nerve, which is not directly considered a part of the olfactory system, gives us a sort of sensory counterbalance to what we would otherwise consider an atmosphere full of pungent smells. Besides cold, the Trigeminal Nerve is also activated by the scent and taste of mint and wasabi. The olfactory reaction is often described as subtle yet visceral.