Rain Gear

Lately it has been raining alot here in the Northeastern United States. Much of the time the thermometer has stood at near the freezing mark, making for extremely dangerous survival conditions. For those of us who spend much of their time out of doors hypothermia is an ever present danger in these wet cold conditions.

In general there are two basic types of clothing designed to protect you from the rain. Breathable raingear and non-breathable raingear. Both have their merits and their disadvantages.

Non-breathable raingear is often made of the traditional plastic or rubber-like materials. This kind of raingear is often the best at repelling water. The downside is your sweat is also repelled - right back at you, which means if you are sweating you can become wet and clammy.

Breathable raingear attempts to allow your sweat to travel outside your layers of clothing and back into the environment, while at the same time repelling the rain. This sounds good in theory, but does not always work in practice.

I would suggest getting the non-breathable type of rain gear in case you need to use it for a shelter. Or to cover you and your backpack when on foot.