Yes, dashing for cover is the way to stay dry

摘要

If you are caught in a downpour, it is better to run for shelter than walk, researchers in the US advise. This may sound obvious, but an earlier study in Britain suggested that you would get just as wet running as walking. In 1995, Stephen Belcher of the University of Reading and his students calculated how much water falls on top of your head and how much you sweep up on your front as you move forward (Weather, vol 50, p 367). Obviously, you would get wettest standing still, and less wet the faster you moved. But the Reading team found that the benefits of running faster than about 3 metres per second—which they described as a walking pace—were tiny.