After almost half a year of living in the UK, and almost half a year of near daily rain, I'm really confused as to why most people appear to have and use laundry drying racks in their yards.

I understand the concept of outdoor drying racks but what's the point of putting out wet clothes to dry in the rain? Yes, yes, I'm sure people usually hang their wet clothes outside when it's not raining, but I can pretty much guarantee that before the laundry gets taken in, the weather is bound to do this:
Beautiful but not really conducive to laundry drying. Perhaps there is a business opportunity awaiting in selling dryers in Great Britain.