In Florida, living between the coast and the everglades, rain is a daily occurrence. Having grown up there for 20 years, I feel that rain doesn't phase me at all.

I have questioned the averseness northerners have towards getting wet. Living in Maryland now, so many I've interacted with will just not go outside all day if there is rain. They've been raised by parents who've trained them to wait for the rain to stop, to postpone yardwork, to waste time and space fiddling with umbrellas.

Is it just a comfort thing, or is there a real advantage to waterproof/breathable clothing?

Rain when it's 40F out hits different. It's not 70 and raining. It makes you much colder.

I get this — but in the Lakes district (England) or anyplace in Scotland, rain at 40F is still common yet folks are unperturbed and continue their daily outdoor activities.

It's amazing how effective a wool sweater and coat can be in those situations. They're very breathable and hydrophobic. I don't think they'd work for the pro cyclist but they're great for the layers-oriented worker.

A lot of this is because it rains so often if you didn’t get used to it you’d never do anything.

Same with golf, most golfers in UK and Ireland will have extensive rain gear, umbrellas etc to play golf otherwise they’d be limited to like 4 weeks a year.

When I lived there I had that gear too but when i lived in Texas I just didn’t play when it rained as I knew a sunny day was around the corner, year round.

Florida rains everyday in the Orlando area but only for an hour and most of th time it’s dry and sunny.

There is a world of difference if you can get into a warm place within minutes, or every now and then.

I also don’t care about rain when going shopping, or walking through the park, or for tourism. But I’ll be extra careful if I’m trekking or biking, as there’s just no option to quickly move to a resting place if I get too wet or too cold. It’s not like I’ll hop into a Starbuck in the middle of the mountain trail.

Rain in the UK is always cold. Don't think I've ever experienced warm rain unless travelling

I haven't been to Florida for many years but this was my experience, when the rain drops it's like being in a shower. You keep wearing light summer clothing so you dry out quickly even if you get caught.

As others have pointed out, getting we when its 40F can quickly turn into hypothermia really fast. You can also get sweaty, then cold on a 40-50F day in a rain jacket if you're moving around a lot. Being cold and wet is no joke.

When I lived in south Florida, it would rarely rain 24/7. I now live in the PNW where it does rain 24/7 for about 9 months of the year. And it is cold.

My guess is that it's a suburban thing. People are almost always 'indoors', home or car. The standard for what's acceptable outdoor weather is high.

Visit a northern urban downtown. You will see plenty of people who pay little attention to the rain - not even rain jackets or umbrellas. They just go about their day.

Having spent the last fifteen years cycling daily, rain at 1C / 33F is colder than snow or ice at any temperature.

I'd rather be in -20C temps than wet in rain at just-above freezing temps.

Florida rain is not comparable.

Cold vs. warm rain is a huge difference. I lived in coastal California and road my bike to work all year, it could be 40F and raining, if you don't have a waterproof jacket you'll be freezing really fast. You'll be sweaty inside because they don't breathe perfectly but you won't freeze. In warm tropical rainy places you can just get wet from rain and not really worry.

> Florida

Have you ever been out in the rain at 0°C? Or even 10°? Do you even know what it is to be cold and wet?

Getting wet is one thing, getting wet in the cold for hours on end is another. For example, the onset of trench foot can happen in under 12 hours.

Comfort. Also being wet in warmer temps doesn't really cause you to get sick more vs cold temps.

> I feel that rain doesn't phase me at all.

Me neither, but I live in Fiji. I suspect I'd absolutely hate the freezing rain of the Pacific Northwest.

This strikes me as odd. I live in Wisconsin, which is not particularly rainy, but also not a desert. I'm a cyclist, for recreation and utility. On rainy days, there are certainly fewer people out on the bike paths, but far from zero. Likewise during the winter. I see people walking past my house, and at the parks, when it's wet out.

There are also people who don't like to be outdoors under those conditions, or who think that it's brave of me to ride my bike to work at -20 F, but I remind them that people work outdoors all day in places like Alaska, and survive.

Naturally, thunderstorms get a bit more attention. Those can produce hail and tornadoes, or blow down trees, with little provocation.

I'd actually rather be out at -20F than +30F. Once things have frozen, there's no risk of being cold and wet at the same time, which is harder to dress for than just being cold.

That's the real issue in Maryland and similar latitudes. We often alternate between sub-freezing and above-freezing temperatures. Snow falls, melts, and then accumulates in large puddles. Bonus: on a particularly cold night, the puddle freezes on top, and then you fall through.

I'm not trying to win some kind of misery Olympics. But mid-temperatures can be tricky to handle in ways that aren't obvious.

It's all fun and games until you're just above freezing and soaking wet. Wet in the south is something completrly different from wet in Florida.

> Wet in the south is something completrly different from wet in Florida.

So, "the south" refers to someplace like the Falklands? :-D

i'm a northerner (chicagoland) and i loved rain, and never understood the point of umbrellas after having one as a little kid for going to school. i think there are lots of us, but rain at 35 fahrenheit drains heat faster than rain at 80 fahrenheit, so it's true we liked warm rain way way more.

If I tried to work in my yard while it’s raining it would cause too much damage that’s too much work to repair . I don’t even do yard work for a couple days after it rains. This is solely for practical reasons for me.

Interesting. I had the same rule of thumb but haven’t followed the field closely since the early 2010s.