These days I nearly always keep a small umbrella with me. This wasn’t always so.
I live in Seattle, sometimes called “rain city”. But we don’t tend to use umbrellas much. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s cultural (we are tough in the face of weather). Maybe it is the nature of our rain: often it is very wet air that seems to come at you from all directions…or, if it is heavy, is often combined with wind that makes an umbrella more of a nuisance than a help.
I first really started using umbrellas on my first trip to Japan, during typhoon season. Typhoon weather dumps on you even if you aren’t in the direct path. The Japanese use umbrellas and have some very stylish ones. And some very cheap ones pop out for sale when the rain starts.
Advantages of an umbrella
It seems like this is just one more thing to carry. However, an umbrella has many uses.
Even with rain gear on, an umbrella helps to protect you and your stuff, especially when it is really dumping. An umbrella allows air flow and does not block your peripheral vision like a hood. You can also set it up to shield items from sun and rain, for example when you need to rummage in your backpack.
An opaque umbrella can be used for sun protection, and it has the advantage over a sun hat is that your head can breath. In Japan that time the weather was swinging from hot (and humid) to torrential downpours. I found that an umbrella was the ticket to relative comfort while walking around.
The umbrellas I carry came from China. I have no idea if you can buy them elsewhere. However, most things you can. I got at least one of mine at a Walmart in Weifang, for the equivalent of $3. They have a metallic looking interior coating that really does a good job of blocking the sunlight. The way they fold up is clever. The water is contained within the fold on the exterior of the umbrella, and if you watch how you carry it doesn’t drip all over.
Photography tip:
If you can manage it (or have a helpful companion) an umbrella can be useful for taking pictures both in sunny and rainy weather. In bright sunlight it can prevent lens flair without causing vignetting, as some len’s hoods do, and makes it easier to see the led display on the back of your camera for composing, and checking, the picture.
I’ve been tempted to test out whether the silvery interior coating would work as a reflector…