A Climate of Extremes, Defined by Contrast
Brazil’s average rainfall is high globally, but the distribution is stark: the Amazon and parts of the Southeast receive tropical downpours year-round, while the semi-arid Northeast struggles with desert-like scarcity. Climate change is already shifting these patterns — intensifying extremes, lengthening dry seasons in the north, and increasing heavy rain days in the south. For agriculture, water management, and disaster preparedness, understanding where and when the rain falls is far more critical than the national average.
| Region | Wet Season | Dry Season | Peak Month | Driest Month | |--------|------------|------------|------------|---------------| | Amazon (Manaus) | Nov–May | Jun–Oct | March (~300 mm) | August (~60 mm) | | Northeast (Fortaleza) | Jan–May | Jun–Dec | April (~350 mm) | October (~10 mm) | | Southeast (São Paulo) | Oct–Mar | Apr–Sep | January (~240 mm) | July (~40 mm) | | South (Curitiba) | Oct–Apr | May–Sep (relative) | February (~170 mm) | August (~80 mm) | | Center-West (Brasília) | Oct–Apr | May–Sep | December (~250 mm) | July (~10 mm) |
is a land of massive climatic variety, where rainfall can range from nearly daily Amazonian cloudbursts to multi-year droughts in the Northeast. Generally, the country receives between of rain annually . However, the experience on the ground depends entirely on which region you visit. Rainfall by Region