Americans seem to have Anoraks (ie. waterproof jackets), as GapKids of San Francisco was recalling them due to some sort of fault, and they called them 'anoraks'. See this link for more info on the anorak product recall... http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_ppro/is_199806/ai_1950882076

waterproof jacket? as a US citizen I've only heard of a parka or a poncho. Although I don't know how "american" those terms are. After I looked it up several sources mentioned that an anorak could be a "jacket with a hood". In that case they are also called 'hoodies' Hoodies however refer to sweater(jumper if you are british right?)-like clothing with a hood attached also.

The snorkel parka was originally developed in the USA during the early 1950's for military use. Originally made with a Dupont flight silk nylon outer and lining it was padded with a wool blanket type material until the mid 70's when the padding was changed to polyester wadding making the jacket both lighter and warmer. The nylon snorkel parka with blue outer and orange lining became almost standard school wear in the late 70's to mid 80'sThe snorkel parka gained popularity in the late 70's when its cheap and hard wearing properties made it the jacket of choice for school kids. It became so popular that at many schools almost every boy had one. Whilst the original N3B parka lining was un-quilted and the same colour as the outer shell, the school type parkas usually has quilted orange lining. The measure of a school parka quickly became how grubby the orange lining became through natural wear without washing. Brands such as Lord Anthony, Campri, Keynote and Brutus made their names selling snorkel parkas. In the late 1980's the snorkel parka became unpopular and was associated with geeks and nerds, helping to create the UK term Anorak (slang) for such people. In around 2004, the traditional association with "Anoraks" had faded and the Snorkel Parka became a fashion jacket once more becoming particularly popular in the indie scene and with now middle-aged people recapturing memories of their school snorkel parkas. Most modern parkas more closely resemble the original 1950's design and have lost the orange quilted lining of the 70's school parkas

I call them raincoats and Gore-tex jackets!

yes,of course! but the term parka is much more common.snorkel jackets were EXTREMELY popular when i was a teenager late 70's-80's. there are large parts of north america just as rainy,dreary and cold as the uk,more-so in the pacific northwest. the northeast and midwest get more extreme cold and snow than most of the uk except northern scotland.new york city,chicago,boston,montreal,toronto for examples get much colder and get much more snow than london. english weather is pretty mild and tame by comparison actually.