I prefer a hat, specifically my leather Aussie style hat, for mildly wet weather. For those wind driven frog stranglers I keep a golf umbrella in the car (but oddly enough, not one on my golf bag).
I didn’t even own an umbrella in Colorado, but quickly found that the Midwest requires one. I bought a compact one, but quickly discarded it as useless. I’ve got a huge umbrella with wind…gussets? I have a pretty substantial walk from car to office, so it’s a must.
I get wet. Floridian here too, and rainstorms can be torrential. And frequently I just don’t have the luxury of waiting for a break. I carry a ‘tall’ umbrella in the car, and have another by my front door, and another at my office door. So I’m umbrella-equipped! They’re useful at the regular doorways, coming or going, because I can keep the umbrella between me and the rain while I transition from inside to outside, then collapse it. No problem there! But I don’t walk home to/from work. There’s a car trip in between.
It’s the transition to/from the car that’s problematic.
I’m in the car and it’s pouring. I pull out the umbrella across my chest and begin opening the door while poking the umbrella upward and outward. Of course I have to open the door wider and wider in order to further open the umbrella. Meantime I, and my driver’s seat, dash, door and window interior, are all getting soaked. Finally I’m outside under my open umbrella. Soaked. And I’ll need a towel for the car when I get back.
Or it’s again pouring and I’m leaving work, headed for my car, umbrella in hand. I get there, and have to open the door the smallest possible aperture while sidling into the seat and collapsing the umbrella. Again I’m getting soaked, along with the interior of the car. Finally I’m in, soaked and holding a sopping, dripping umbrella across my lap. I put it on the passenger side, now wetting the rest of the car.
So mostly I don’t bother with umbrellas at all! I run, and accept the inevitability of wet frustration. And I carry dry towels in the car.
Anybody got a better answer?
Umbrellas are for cities, they are useless in the country. I once owned one but I forget what happened to it.
When I worked I used to keep a collapsible in my desk drawer, another in the car. But I prefer to use a full sized umbrella. I have way too many considering I live in L.A., but I keep finding cool ones I like. Gromit dressed in sou’wester. a vintage Maude Frizon where the handle is in the shape of the shoe, a Sheila Bridges with her Harlem toile fabric. I also have a purple Gloria Vanderbilt with a handle in the shape of a swan. It was a “gift with purchase” from decades ago. Once I left it at my seat after hockey game at the Forum, and I was really upset, because by that time I’d already had it about 20 years. Then, I saw a guy walking with it outside. I recognized him from our section, and ran over to claim my umbrella. He readily handed it over, I’m thinking partly because the purpley swan-handled umbrella didn’t fit his self-image.
I hate wearing a raincoat and the only time I willing do is when there’s lightning too. I have a compact windproof umbrella that unfurls with the push of a button. It is awesome.
Rain is more often sporadic around here, and the compact ones are less cumbersome to carry. The actual covering isn’t the same as a large umbrella, but it is basically the standard size.
If it’s actually storming, then I prefer those really thin rain jackets that you can fold up. I just keep a its waterproof case in my pocket. I’ve never had an umbrella keep me dry when the weather is that bad, no matter the size.
I have a sturdy LLBean raincoat with a big hood that works well for dashing around. I carry a compact umbrella if I’m going to be out walking.
These days more people use umbrella-parasol hybrids that also have UV protection for sunny days. I got one, because I can burn in five minutes. It has two layers of fabric. It’s not compact, but opens and closes in a newfangled way, as if the wind had blown it inside out.
I wear a hat.
The inside of the door will get a little wet, that much is inevitable. The trick for me is to quickly push the umbrella horizontally past the door, then open it while raising it upwards and pushing the door open with my body. Usually I’m not soaked though, and the raindrops roll off the exterior of my clothes.
I also park backwards if necessary to break the wind - the other option is to climb over and exit the passenger side door.
You might look into those spring-activated umbrellas (stick your hand out and press the button).
I keep a trash bag on the passenger’s side for the umbrella, and that mitigates some of the wetness. I tried with one of those umbrella bags but honestly they are so thin that by the time you get it fitted, all of the water has left the umbrella for the car seats anyways.
I’ve also wondered whether it is possible for a device to be installed inside the car, perhaps attached to the top interior of the door and the handle on the roof by the door, which provides a canopy while the door is opened. Ideally this canopy leads the water down just outside the hinge. If it is possible I suppose it would be sort of accordion-like.
~Max
We have a walking-stick umbrella for rainy walks to the grocery store and back. It’s big enough to cover the person and the shopping trolley.
Otherwise I find that type to be a menace. Not when they are in use, but when people are carrying them. They are often carried via a strap on the shoulder with the umbrella horizontal with the lovely point appromimately 1 m / 1 yard off the ground. Perfect for poking people. A compact umbrella is far easier to carry when unfurled and is less likely to cause injury to someone else.
Using an umbrella in Oregon is a good way to get laughed out of the state as a complete newbie.
I wear a hat or just a ball cap for heavy rain, and don’t bother with anything for a drizzle. Anywhere I go it’s a simple dash to the door from my truck even in heavy downpours - there’s no harm done if my head gets a little wet. And if I need to walk down my driveway to my mailbox I just wait for the rain to lighten up a bit. In the event that I decide to "do’ something outside in a torrential rain(not likely) I have a ‘Gorton’s Fisherman’ outfit, and a cheapo version in my truck for emergencies.
I own a couple of golf umbrellas that were giveaways from vendors at various places, but they only get used for shade at the beach, and very seldom.
Just by the way, here in Saudi some ladies actually use non-waterproof umbrellas. You know parasols.
Indeed. Even though we get loads of rain here in the Umpqua Valley, almost nobody uses an umbrella. Everyone, and I mean everyone, owns and uses a good waterproof hooded jacket. I have several, including a thick one from Carhartt for when I’m hiking or camping, a thin one that can be folded compactly enough to be stuffed in a backpack or messenger bag that I wear to work, and several in between. I own a few umbrellas and keep one in my car, but those are really for backup in case the weather changed during the day and I’m caught out and about without a jacket. I can’t remember the last time I actually used one.
But really my go-to rain protection is a hat: I have a couple of Aussie cattleman hats (Akubra) that work fine for keeping both the sun and the rain off of of my balding pate.
Living in New York I get around by foot and subway, not automobile, so a good umbrella is necessary. I prefer a full-size black umbrella with a crook handle, which makes me feel like John Steed in The Avengers.
Even the best umbrellas are no good in heavy rain, so I backup with a knee-length L.L. Bean hooded raincoat.
Furled, forgotten, covered in dust, in the back of a neglected closet, long unused, its intended purpose a vague memory.
** misses the desert **
I never did understand why one would carry a walking stick in a strap… I carry it in my hand. And if you need both hands the curved ones fit nicely on the arm.
But I could definitely see the problems in a more populated area, where more than one or two people occupy a sidewalk at once.
~Max
Like any self-respecting Pacific Northwesterner, I’d say umbrellas are useless.
I mean, I own an umbrella. I have no idea where in my house it is, but is somewhere. For me to bother, it would have to be a very specific set of conditions: steady rain, heavy rain, windless rain, and an expectation of spending over two continuous hours in the rain without ever needing to use my hands.
Seriously, just wear a jacket. Maybe a hat, too, if it’s getting in my face.
As a Floridian I’d agree with your list of requirements for when an umbrella would be the best solution, but I’d quibble with “heavy rain”. I think it would also be appropriate with anything that I could call rain. Because what other people call rain with no modifier, I as a Floridan call a drizzle. What I call rain with no modifier everyone else probably calls a downpour. (To agree with SanVito, almost half of the days I’ve spent in England I’ve experienced precipitation, which is higher than in Florida, but only two of those days would I consider it an honest rain instead of a mist or light drizzle.)