Rainfall is ample all year, but is markedly greater during summer.
Tropical cyclones and hurricanes strike the coastal area occasionally, always bringing very heavy rains. Winter precipitation, some in the form of snow, is of the frontal type. Temperatures are moderately wide in range and comparable to those in tropical deserts, but without the extreme heat of a desert summer. Soils in the moister, warmer parts of the humid subtropical regions are strongly leached Ultisols related to those of the humid tropical and equatorial climates. Rich in oxides of both iron and aluminum, these soils are poor in many of the plant nutrients essential for successful agricultural production.