Most of Botswana is considered desert or semi-desert. It is usually comfortably warm, but can get rather hot, especially between October and December, when temperatures at mid-day can get as high as 110-120° F. Large temperature fluctuations between day and night, and between summer and winter, can occur. Rain is quite rare, but more likely between late October and March. The northern areas receive up to 27 inches a year while the Kalahari Desert area averages as low as 9 inches a year.