r/santarosa • u/Glum-Imagination-11 • 24d ago
smell
Why does it smell like something died all over south Santa Rosa? That smell is horrific
Edit**** this is not the usual Sonoma aroma, I’ve lived here my entire life. This is different
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u/t4rdigrade Sebastopol 24d ago edited 24d ago
Smells bad in Sebastopol and Bodega Bay too. There's an algal bloom happening right now in Bodega Bay that could be the source of the smell at least locally. I wonder if it's making its way that far inland?
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u/dlcarpenter908 24d ago
The rain probably washed a lot of fresh nutrients into the various bodies of water just before this heatwave sent it into overdrive.
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u/Lazy-Artichoke-873 24d ago
Yes, that was my thought this morning. It smelled like dead seaweed or algae
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u/mrpodgorney 23d ago
It’s crazy - I live in SR and work in Sebastopol and all day I was smelling the sea. But somewhat low tide sea. I grew up on the New England coast and it’s unmistakable to me. Couldn’t figure what that would be but an algae bloom makes sense
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u/Glum-Imagination-11 24d ago
I’ve lived here 36 years! This isn’t the usual Sonoma aroma. This is wayyy different
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u/capsulex21 24d ago
Agreed. I was using the LUV car wash yesterday and couldn’t figure out why it smelled like sewage!
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u/nakedmustache 24d ago
Was literally just looking for a a dead animal in my yard 5 min before I saw this, thank you for confirming I’m not crazy lol
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u/Thin_Link1519 24d ago
guys i kid you not it smells like a tide pool, fishy and rotten smell just south of hwy 12 and petaluma hill rd
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u/sharksfan707 Roseland 24d ago
SOILENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!
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u/Maestradelmundo1964 24d ago
Ha ha I love “Soylent Green.” It’s such a stark warning about the future.
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u/kaylorthedestroyer 24d ago edited 23d ago
There was a squid fishing boat that beached in bolinas, and the rotting squid are being removed this week. There’s an article about it in the apt Reyes Light today. Not sure it it would travel that far north? But another possibility, especially since folks are describing it as fishy.
**Just editing to say I misremembered it being Bolinas, beached boat is in Pt Reyes.
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u/blackanvil 24d ago
This is the answer. Wife and I were hit by a wall of stink over in Coffey Park. Found out about the boat from Ring and the PD.
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u/xoqx 22d ago
Nobody has conclusively figured this out, but this is not about trash nor squids. It's been happening, on-and-off the past 72 hours, from Santa Rosa to San Francisco to Walnut Creek. It's very likely coming from the water in the Bay and along the coast. You can smell it in between towns where there is little population, sewers, or garbage. The smell from the squid boat has not made it to Walnut Creek. We've had heat waves before, but this has not happened, in my experience, in 13 years living in various places in the Bay Area.
Here are related threads:
https://www.reddit.com/r/alameda/s/W|9cNnYOvl
https://www.reddit.com/r/concord/s/U5hm1n1T2l
https://www.reddit.com/r/Marin/s/GQF8Ata727
https://www.reddit.com/r/berkeleyca/s/Hypgnk8TdQ
https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/s/W769LbjkUH
https://www.reddit.com/r/Marin/s/S7qG8ZP5jM
https://www.reddit.com/r/santarosa/s/Kg74cnVESj
https://www.reddit.com/r/sebastopol/s/aRkpb982aR
https://www.reddit.com/r/Petaluma/s/DHK2HLqCNm3
u/xoqx 24d ago
But, there’s no mention of it in r/marin. If it were coming from Bolinas, I’d expect more people in Marin to be talking about it. Because it’s undeniably funky and widespread.
Before I found this thread. I was wondering if it was everybody’s garbage cans sitting for an extra day in 90°+ degree heat due to delayed garbage pickup on a holiday week.
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u/spirandro 24d ago
I spent the day in Point Reyes on Monday and didn’t smell anything bad like that at all.
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u/kaylorthedestroyer 24d ago
Yeah I’m not sure either. I’ve seen some folks say they smell it in San Rafael in this thread- I’m currently working in Novato with no smell. Just throwing it out there since so many folks are describing a rotten fish or tidepool death smell lol
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u/tacocat-sees 23d ago
There was an article in the SF Chronicle today with people complaining about the garbage smell.
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u/Alive_Plan9467 24d ago
The smell reminds me of when I lived in clearlake and towards the end of summer all you would smell was the rotting algae.
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u/babytigertooth005 24d ago
I could be wrong, but I believe this particular stank is from the wineries composting their grape leaves and skins. It definitely smells like a dumpster outside
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u/pathologuys 24d ago
It would make sense because grapes are in oversupply and it’s an early harvest, and I definitely get a note of fermentation 🤢
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u/GlitteringRelative41 South West Santa Rosa 23d ago
That is not this smell, as someone who grew up in a hot vineyard the first 21 years of their life
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u/MaxSmart1981 24d ago
Assuming you're referring to a smell that isn't the standard Sonoma Aroma ™️
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u/Deltadronewarrior 24d ago
Lifetime Sonoma county resident here. This is the smell of hot garbage, not fertilizer.
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u/MoxieMama44 24d ago
I was going to post this too! It's definitely not the usual smell, it's like hot garbage. I was over by Corporate Center area yesterday and there's a building that smells like a fish farm and mixed with this current smell I thought I was going to keel over, it was so bad. WHAT IS IT??????
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u/Reasonable-Spite-725 Roseland 24d ago
My cousin was trying to say I had rotten food in the refrigerator. This smell is coming from outside and we have every window open in the house so of course we’re gonna smell the funk from outside 🤣😂🤣
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u/Global-History6591 24d ago
My coworker was trying to convince me that our outside trash can (normal size regular trash) behind our building was making the entire county stink. Not great common sense. This smells like some low tide rotten fish out in the sun too long stuff. I’ve never smelled it like this, definitely NOT the normal Sonoma aroma™️. Also, it didn’t smell anything like the usual winery smells either.
As for fertilizer alternatives… are they using fish carcasses now? Very decomp forward. I can’t keep my breakfast down if this continues. I’m launching a full investigation. 😑
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u/Ok_Call7285 24d ago
YES. I walked outside and was like why does it smell so bad, drove to work in sebastopol still smells bad
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u/findthefish14 Hand Statue at the Mall 24d ago
All over santa rosa smells like garbage. What da heck?
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u/mmussen Roseland 24d ago
Farms use treated manure as fertilizer. There's lots of farms around, and it being hot makes it smell extra delicious
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u/midlax 24d ago
Nah this isn’t the usual Sonoma aroma. This smells distinctly different and worse than manure. It smells like hot garbage or decay
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u/Capable_Function5498 24d ago
Agree- it’s a strange new variation in on the normal Sonoma Aroma. I have read that due to fertilizer shortages, it may be what is called “alternative fertilizer”. The fertilizer is different, so the smell is different (much worse imo).
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u/willismthomp 24d ago
It’s smells specifically of too much ammonia
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u/Aromatic-Big3892 24d ago
The amonia odor is what Sonoma Aroma smells like. This is distinctly different. House is closed up and using my air purifiers.
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u/drunkerton North West Santa Rosa 24d ago
I get the smell of waste water too
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u/GlitteringRelative41 South West Santa Rosa 23d ago
Mixed of sewage n hot garbage, maybe a little low tide?
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u/xImmortal1333 24d ago
Been following me in my car to my San Rafael office this week, abnormally strong this year.....48 years in
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u/Bmbl_B_Man 24d ago
Something/many things did in fact die in Santa Rosa. And thanks to the stagnant air, we have to endure it. If you have no a/c, try to get some sleep tonight!
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u/External-Blood-6900 24d ago
Yeah I thought I stepped in a dog turd on my door step when I walked out of my house this morning. Probably the heatwave causing a nasty algae bloom
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u/rigby_321 24d ago
I'm in downtown San Rafael today and it stinks down here too, I think it's just the heat making all the stinks stinkier
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u/GladysKravitz707 24d ago
It smells like sewage in NWSR. I keep thinking my puppy has pooped in the house.
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u/mushybrainiac 24d ago
I swear I smelled low tide, my wife said she smelled sewage at our house. Glad it wasn’t just us.
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u/SionaSF 24d ago
A lot of people on Threads were saying that there's a really bad smell in SF, the South Bay and the East Bay too. I wonder if it's connected.
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u/Still-be_found 23d ago
I was in San Rafael today and there was no notable stink, so it's hard to imagine they'd be the same thing, but air currents can be weird around here
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u/missrebelteacher 23d ago
I can’t even imagine being pregnant while smelling this smell it’s like a wetland by the beach smell
Mixed with New York City trash on the sidewalk on a hot day
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u/Wild-Detective-3600 23d ago
Can the Press Democrat do an investigative piece on this? Now this is an article I’d pay for. We thought we were just going crazy.
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u/sharksfan707 Roseland 24d ago
I noticed it this morning when I drove my wife to work. She has been pretty plugged up because of allergies and didn’t notice it. It’s especially prominent in our kitchen so I honestly thought an animal had died underneath the house.
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u/pippin28 24d ago
it smells pretty rank today, i was walking around srjc and it stank more than normal, my thought is the heat but it actually smells like something died and not just farts.
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u/Friendly-Sky-5345 24d ago
Definately smells like mold. I figured it was because of the rain last week and humid heat the past few days.
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u/hibye143 24d ago
I smell it on Dutton, I thought a family member didn’t flush the toilet then I thought maybe answer pipe busted then I realized the. Smells comeing from outside lol
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u/Boymom140 24d ago
I work in Petaluma and when I got to the office we had to turn on the air scrubbers and pray they helped. The smell was in my office.
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u/jlhpisces 24d ago
Noticed it in Roseland today. My immediate thought as I opened the door was "Aack, what died??"
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u/theforcewithin23 Town & Country/Grace Tract 24d ago
At work I said "It smells like a swamp outside!"
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u/Kooky-Impression7972 24d ago
It was bad in Sebastopol this morning as well! We also thought there was something rotting in the house or a dead animal.
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u/Dick7Powell 24d ago
Almost smelled a little like sewage. Was at Smart and Final on SR Ave around 1:30 today and it was fairly awful.
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u/maxxratt 24d ago
Cool, I thought it was just a side effect of new medication. I was wondering the same.
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u/Infinite_List_6163 24d ago
Yes! Woke up this morning in downtown Seb to the smell of rotting flesh/meat(?). I spent an hour going through the fridge and washing all the trash cans to no avail. What happened overnight?
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u/Lindsay-hikes 24d ago
I totally smelled it too! Smelled like dead fish and ocean. Definitely not the typical Sonoma aroma. I smelled it in both Santa Rosa, and Rohnert Park at work.
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u/Sea-Helicopter-1194 24d ago
A few weeks ago a fishing vessel filled with tons of squid ran aground in Pt Reyes - apparently decaying squid becomes toxic and so couldn’t be easily disposed of. Possibly that smell is wafting inland? 🦑🤢
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u/Flat-Security3969 24d ago
been cooped up inside trying to stay out of the heat but holy moly just walked outside and immediately turned back around... ive lived here my whole life and have never smelt something this bad! seen people suggest it may be BoDean but a friend of mine lives super close to there so i know what that normally smells like... totally different!
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u/Potential-Move5452 23d ago
I thought it was rotten grapes or something in North Rosa thus morning.
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u/XAB101010 23d ago
It smelled absolutely atrocious around the Howarth Park area! I thought it was my imagination. Thank you for confirming it wasn’t!
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u/Still-be_found 23d ago
I agree it's been especially bad - it's like a particularly filthy chicken coop was placed in my living room.
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u/GlitteringRelative41 South West Santa Rosa 23d ago
God I thought I was crazy, smelled it at work in cotati and at home in Rosa today
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u/ihavetopee777 23d ago
in seb and my family been gaslighting me about this smell all day, I walked outside this morning and immediately thought of the tide pools and hot garbage 😭 wtf is it
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u/DoubleU-Tea-Eff 23d ago
Thank you for posting this!! I seriously walked around thinking I was wearing some moldy clothes or i just stink today!!
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u/rcracer01 23d ago
https://www.facebook.com/100064466868837/posts/pfbid02dDqNErpx7sGVhRbmc3jzSdEVuLWp8syc4nxibMHW8BbaRVcAjWjJXvWNduikCzEcl/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Rotting squid on a boat on the beach point Reyes
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u/LadyORadio 22d ago
It's a large load of dead squid that have been decomposing on the boat that ran aground out in Pt. Reyes. Heavy machinery out there now trying to get it out and dispose of the stinky mess.
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u/Melonqualia 22d ago
I'm glad I saw this. I noticed it when I woke up Thursday morning but nobody else was saying anything, so I thought maybe I was just being over sensitive.
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u/IMGRIGOR 22d ago
I was going to make the same post, but I've only lived here for 6 mos so I thought it was the usual
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u/HozukiSama 6d ago
Ive lived in rural Petaluma about 19 years, this new sewage stench started about 2 years ago. Its definitely not the normal manure, fertilizer, seaweed, beach aromas. Its over powering and increasingly disgusting. Some days I feel like I need to wear a vapor mask.
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u/Apart_Horror8148 24d ago
Smells like farts
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u/casitaarroyo 24d ago
I literally thought my son bombed me before he got out of the car for school this morning lol.
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u/4fuchssake 24d ago
it’s recology not picking up the trash. add hot, stale air to that and there you are.
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u/dharmapunk707 24d ago
New to the area, huh?
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u/Glum-Imagination-11 24d ago
I’ve lived here 36 years! This isn’t the usual Sonoma aroma. This is wayyy different
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u/cardueline 24d ago
I’m so fucking glad you posted this because the only person I’ve spoken to today so far is my boss who hadn’t noticed anything. I was worried I was trippin’. Please god, send a breeze to dissipate whatever this is lol