Kate, I do agree with you, except for the "completely drying out between rainstorms".
I would think that depends on the region and time of year. Even in tropical regions you have seasons:
Years ago at a walk through the tropical Jungle near Manaus/Brazil as we got thoroughly drenched, and that was in the dry season, we were told that it rains every day in the dry season and it rains all day in the wet season.
And then you might have a warm Savanna with a typical dry season, but surely even there is considerable morning dew.
If you pull out my Ecuador report, you will see us getting soaked plenty, and many of those areas simply didn't dry up completely.
It truly is not that clear cut.
