Myth buster

You get less wet by going faster! Here’s why:

There are two ways rain hits you as you travel:
1. From above – rain falling down onto your head and shoulders
2. From the front – rain you run into as you move forward

The rain from above depends on how long you’re exposed. Go faster, spend less time in the rain, get less wet from above. This effect is straightforward.

The rain from the front increases as you go faster – you’re essentially colliding with more raindrops that are hanging in the air. But here’s the key: this effect is generally much smaller than the time-based effect from rain falling on top of you.

Think of it this way: there’s a roughly fixed amount of rain falling in the space between you and your destination. The rain coming down from above will soak you more the longer you’re out there. The rain you run into frontally is more like a “one-time cost” of moving through that space.

The math works out that for typical rain conditions and human body proportions, the time savings from moving faster outweighs the extra rain you encounter by running into it. So sprint to stay drier!

This assumes you’re traveling in a straight line and the rain is falling roughly vertically. If there’s strong wind blowing the rain sideways, or if you’re unusually shaped (very tall and thin vs short and wide), the calculation might change slightly, but faster is still usually better.