<a href="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/april-showers-may-flowers.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-5681" src="https://judythewriter.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/april-showers-may-flowers.jpg?w=300" alt="april showers may flowers" width="300" height="223" /></a>We’ve all at one time or another repeated the rhyme, <em>April showers bring May flowers.</em> Most of us are also familiar with the heady smell before a rainfall.

Since April is also poetry month,  it's appropriate that the saying first appeared in 1610 in a poem as <em>Sweet April showers/Do spring May flowers</em>.

The science behind the rhyme and that peculiar smell is also interesting.

According to meteorologists, March winds push in low pressure systems to replace the normally dry winter air with much more moist air in the low pressure systems. The more and stronger the low pressure system, the more rain falls.

Days grow warmer and genetically hard-wired plants push through as the soil thaws and frosts end. Rain helps nutrients reach the roots faster. Springtime sees increased activity of animals, birds, and insects which renews the ecosystem.

The smell of rain comes from the oil released into the air before rain begins to fall. Scientists named the smell <em>petrichor.</em> Read all about the process and the name <a href="http://earthsky.org/earth/whats-that-smell-in-the-air-when-its-about-to-rain" target="_blank">here</a>.

Whether you sing in the rain or grumble inside on rainy days, think about what's to come. Those dark days will bring beautiful flowers.