JOURNAL

It's a scientific secret that crops back into our minds and very cold hearts every winter: the smell of snow. But is it really a scent we're smelling? 

"Cold weather, humidity, and a stimulated trigeminal nerve—combine to create something that isn’t an odor, but a sensory experience you’ve come to associate with snow. That’s why when asked to describe the scent, people often use words like “clean,” “fresh,” and “cold"— a.k.a. things that don’t have much of a scent at all.

Mental Floss has the rest of the story.