What's that smell??

[Alexa]

I smell this rank smell driving by laguardia on non-windy evenings. I always thought that it was a lack of movement in the water and the stink was just building up. Isn't there also a sewage plant across from the park?

I love new york, and I"m not ready to say that we live on a toxic waste planet, but when this smell rolls in, I run into the house and close the windows.

[TRX]

Sometimes Nature smells too. (It wasnt me  )

Where is the maple syrup perfume when you (I) need it.

[megc]

I may be thinking of a totally different smell.  The low tide smell has to do with the mud, salt water, algae dying because of the high nitrogen levels...it's very earthy yet acrid, and smells vaguely like the sea.  That is not what I would consider poop to smell like.  I've never felt nauseated from that low tide smell.  My guess is that the smell you're referring to is coming from the sewage treatment further east; I once caught a whiff last summer while walking east on 23rd Ave - it really DID smell like 100 dogs had crapped in the yard next to me!  Truly nasty.  I ran down by the park this morning and didn't smell anything bad.  I don't run right up against the water, though, on the concrete (concrete bad for megc's knees).  Maybe my nose was protected where I was?  I dunno.  I did have to cut it short because it was too cold and I had no hat on.  Stupid pseudo-winter temperatures. 

[Alison]

I'm confused here.  What does low tide smell like and what does it come from?  What I smell is - for lack of a better word - poop.  Now I know poop is natural, but I'm not sure if that's what Megc meant, and if it's what low tide smells like.  Is the smell "poop" because of low tide, or does low tide just smell like poop but it's not poop?

Low tide smell is separate from poop smell. I know the poop smell of which you speak, I think its from the sewage treatment plant. Its super pungent, and I've occasionally smelled it "inland", like around Steinway Street. Usually, low tide smell is only noticeable if you're right near the water, and it doesn't last for very long because, well, tides change. (I live further from the water now than when I was a kid, and I never smelled low tide at my parent's place, so that's my super non-scientific explanation.)

I kind of wish computers had smell-o-vision so I could demonstrate what low tide smells like. (or, on preview, what meg said about mud, salt water, etc. But smell-o-vision would still be fun )

[daisy]

Yup,  it must be different then.  Thanks for clearing that up for me!  I do run near the water from 19th Ave to the park, and then in the park.  I smell the poop smell closer to the water, but I have smelled it all over Astoria on some days.  If there's a sewage treatment plant right there, I guess that's what it is.  I wonder if the sewage empties into the water.....

[Astoria Luv]

I started reading the latest posts in this thread while eating my sandwich at my desk!  I'm not feeling that hungry anymore 

[lizluv43]

Fish poopie

[merm]

We seriously need to get to the bottom of some of these smells around here! We need to form some kind of "neighborhood watch" or something to figure out these strange smelly clouds that sometimes drift the streets.

[Debbie]

Has anyone experienced 'the smell' recently, or is it gone?  My allergies got so bad this year, I couldn't smell a wet dog if it was sitting next to me!  What's the latest on the smell?

[essen]

It was pretty strong for a couple nights last week.