The Democratic Republic of the Congo has a predominantly tropical climate with strong regional contrasts driven by latitude, elevation, and the seasonal movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Most of the country is hot and humid year-round, with equatorial rainforest conditions in the central basin, tropical wet-and-dry conditions in the north and south, and cooler highland climates in the east. The country is very large and climatically diverse, with a land area of about 2.3 million km², so residents can experience very different weather depending on region. Rainfall is generally abundant, but the southeast has a noticeably longer dry season and the highest eastern mountains are cooler and wetter.