Rainforests are known for their rainfall, and in fact they are just about created by it. They can be found where rain exceeds 80 inches per year, and can appear in temperate as well as tropical zones, so long as there is a lot of rainfall.

The tropical rainforests often have from 160 to 400 inches of rain a year on average. But they aren’t the wettest or even the hottest places on Earth. Another important factor that gives the rainforest character is the constant humidity and high average temperature. In the Amazon basin you can expect at least 130 days of rain a year and, in other places the rain can last up to 250 days. The humidity never falls below 80%, and temperatures vary little between daytime averages of 88 Fahrenheit and nighttime lows of 72 F.

Sometimes this constancy of temperature and humidity makes people argue about them thinking that rainforests have no seasons, but in the tropics this is only somewhat correct. There may not be a cold winter and a hot summer, but there are dry seasons and wet seasons. Plants and trees flower at these different times of year, effecting the lives of the creatures who use them to live. Our understanding of rainforests (Ecosystem) quickly corrects the misconception.

There is around 80 inches of rainfall per year. During the rainy season parts of the rainforest, the rivers become so filled with water that they overflow and surge over the banks and flood the forest. In these areas, the river rises to the height of a two-story house. Animals that live in the lower parts of the forest survive by hanging on to trees and plants above the water level. Fish swim through the tree branches that are under the water level. In order to overcome this, people build their homes on stilts and farmers build log rafts for their cattle and horses.