The short answer: there is no good evidence that walking in light or moderate rain makes a healthy person ill. The real hazards are practical: slippery ground, poor visibility, getting properly cold, and lightning. The science on whether chilling plays any role in catching colds is more mixed than the "it's a myth" version suggests.
Does getting wet or cold give you a cold?
Colds are caused by viruses, not by rain, so you can't catch one from the weather alone. The more interesting question is whether chilling changes how likely an exposure is to turn into symptoms. The research is mixed. A 2005 experiment in Family Practice (Johnson and Eccles) found that acute chilling of the feet caused the onset of common cold symptoms in around 10% of the people who were chilled. Its authors note that earlier experiments, in which volunteers were inoculated with cold viruses and then exposed to cold, had failed to show an effect on susceptibility to infection, and that present scientific opinion has dismissed a cause-and-effect link. Separately, lab work on mouse airway cells (Foxman and colleagues, PNAS, 2015) found that the innate immune response to rhinovirus differs with temperature, which is consistent with the cooler nose being a more favourable place for the virus, though that is a cell-culture finding and not a trial in walkers.
Taken together, the evidence doesn't justify avoiding a normal walk in the rain, and it doesn't completely rule out a small effect of being chilled. The practical advice is the one the earlier page gave: don't stay in wet clothes and cold feet for hours afterwards. We removed its statement that winter colds are more common "largely because people spend more time indoors, not because of the temperature itself." That is plausible, but we haven't found a source that settles it. We also removed the claims that the sound of rain soothes people and that rain walks feel "similar" to walking meditation, since neither was sourced; the mood evidence for walking in general is in walking and mental health.
The real risks
This section is common safety advice rather than research findings. Wet leaves, painted road markings, metal grates and polished surfaces can become slippery, so shorter steps and a slower pace make sense, as with ice (walking in winter covers what is and isn't known about that). Rain reduces visibility for drivers as well as for you, so bright or reflective clothing helps near traffic. In cold weather, wet clothes lose heat faster than dry ones, so rain plus wind can chill you faster than dry air at the same temperature. Walking in cold rain is the situation where dressing properly and shortening the walk matters most.
Lightning is the one reason to cancel outright. Standard public safety guidance is that if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck, and that clothing doesn't make it safe, so go indoors and wait. We haven't checked that against a weather-agency page for this article, but it is the widely repeated advice and we wouldn't walk through a thunderstorm.
What to wear
This is general advice. A water-resistant jacket, a cap with a brim, and non-cotton layers are the usual suggestions. Fully waterproof outerwear traps sweat on a long or brisk walk, so a breathable fabric or a lighter shell can feel better. We have no studies on rain clothing or on whether water-resistant shoes are worth it; our walking shoes page covers what research does show about footwear.
When to skip it
Our suggestions: thunder or lightning, flooding or standing water you can't see through, very heavy rain with poor visibility, strong wind with rain, or a local weather warning against being outdoors. On those days, a treadmill, a shopping centre or laps around the house keep your step count going. A single missed day won't undo a habit: the main habit-formation study (Lally and colleagues, 2010) found that missing one day didn't materially affect the process, so there is no need to walk through bad conditions to protect a streak. The 30-day walking challenge covers habits in more detail.
Sources
- Johnson C, Eccles R. Acute cooling of the feet and the onset of common cold symptoms. Family Practice. 2005;22(6):608-613. oup.com
- Foxman EF, Storer JA, Fitzgerald ME, et al. Temperature-dependent innate defense against the common cold virus limits viral replication at warm temperature in mouse airway cells. PNAS. 2015;112(3):827-832. springer.com (citing article)
- Lally P, van Jaarsveld CHM, Potts HWW, Wardle J. How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2010;40(6):998-1009. wiley.com
Correction note: an earlier version of this page said you cannot get ill from rain or chilling, that colds are more common in winter largely because people are indoors, that rain-walking benefits include the soothing sound of rain, and gave a clothing table. The research on chilling and colds is mixed rather than settled, so the first claim is now stated with the evidence on both sides, and the others were removed or labelled as advice. We checked the figures above against published abstracts and summaries on October 2, 2026, and the Foxman paper is cited through an article that references it. We did not check the lightning guidance against a weather-agency page. This article is for informational purposes and does not replace medical advice. This is general information, not medical advice.