From the original Rainwear Central website: an account of Tropical Storm Hannah in New England (September 2008)

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joe
Posts: 73
Joined: January 18th, 2010, 3:36 am
Location: Maine, USA

From the original Rainwear Central website: an account of Tropical Storm Hannah in New England (September 2008)

Post by joe »

Did you have fun in the rain last Friday or Saturday? Saturday evening, I was out most of the night pretending I was alternatively at a football game surrounded by fans in ponchos and rainwear; a policeman or crossing guard, or a kid walking to school in his Weather Rite slicker with the clasps. We had just over four inches of rain over eight hours.

By the way, this was at my new home and there are great places to play in the rain.

I wore my Blauer black/orange reversible police raincoat using an LL Bean long Stowaway rain parka to gain extra protection with the hood. When I got drenched enough after an hour I changed to a black single breasted unlined Burberry with a Black Diamond rubber souwester. The Burberry soaked thru completely in five minutes. Then I came in and changed into a similar black London Fog raincoat again with the Black Diamond souwester. The heavy thinsulate zip-in lining was welcome extra protection even at a mild 68 degrees at 10 to 11PM. Though the coat took 15 minutes before it became saturated, the liner was good protection.

Finally I could stand it no longer. I changed to my favorite long black Weather Rite with the attached hood and added LL Bean Trail Model rainpants and spent 3 to 4 hours in the drenching rain. Absolutely exhilarating!

I was exciting myself with the words of Sharon Resultan from the Weather Channel last Friday night who was giving a College Football forecast for fans on the East Coast. She spoke of the pounding wind - driven rains in the forecast and advised strongly "an umbrella will do you no good, you'll have to wear to wear the rain pon-cho!

The way she says that with her native midwestern accent tinged with an Atlanta drawl: "rain pon-cho!"; is a mega turn-on!

After about three hours of ectasy during which we received two inches of rain and staying reasonably dry considering the deluge - I got used to canvas lining of the Weather Rite being a warm kind of wet; I came in and changed into my original get-up; the Blauer black/orange reversible police raincoat over the LL Bean Stowaway rain parka to gain hooded protection and saw off the satisfying final hour of an intense rainstorm before retiring around 4:00AM.

The only really bad outerwear choice other than the unlined Burberry (I do get a charge seeing the signature tartan lining get wet where the rain came thru) was my pvc Birkenstock clogs. Rubber wellies would have been the only dry choice but I discovered that waterproof clogs or Crocs will work. Tropical Storm Hanna had warm enough rain not to mind having wet feet.

Another thing I learned. If you had to wear london fog type coat, an inner jacket with a sturdy hood, better a pvc souwester , and most important - zip in the winter liner even though the temps are warm to stay reasonably dry - emphasis on reasonably - when you come in from the rain your clothes will have a warm type wetness which I supposed you have to put up with after such an extreme rainstorm. Rainpants are a real good thing too; even over dress clothes and worn under a long raincoat. That is, if you had to walk to work or school in all day torrential driving rain.

Then again, we'd be in rubber!
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