A period of a month or more, recurring every year, which is marked in a given region (generally tropical or sub-tropical) by the complete or almost complete absence of precipitation.
A designation used in IRI forecasts for areas experiencing a period of time when conditions are normally dry (less than 3 cm of precipitation); the IRI refrains from giving a forecasts for these regions because of the high variability of precipitation.
The low rainfall season across northern Australia running from May to September. In southern Australia, this is from December to March. (See also 'wet season').
In certain types of climate, an annually recurring period of one or more months during which precipitation is at a minimum for that region; the opposite of rainy season.
The dry season is a term commonly used when describing the weather in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which oscillates from the northern to the southern tropics over the course of the year. The tropical rain belt lies in the southern hemisphere roughly from October to March, and during this time the northern tropics experience a dry season in which precipitation is very rare, and days are typically hot and sunny throughout.
