Underrstanding Weather and Climate in South America: South America (SA) has a diversified geography that enables the development and action of different atmospheric systems. These systems contribute to the spatial and temporal non-homogeneity of precipitation patterns. This study has as purposes: (a) to provide basic concepts from weather and climate, (b) to present the precipitation climatology and (c) to describe the atmospheric systems that contribute to the diverse annual cycles of precipitation in each region of the SA. The wet season in the continent is usually in the summer and the dry season is the winter. In these seasons different atmospheric systems are responsible by precipitation.
