Changing precipitation patterns due to climate change is a critical concern affecting society and environment. Projected changes in global seasonal precipitation are largely heterogeneous in space, time, magnitude and direction. Therefore, reconciling projected future precipitation is pivotal for both climate change science and adaptation and mitigation schemes.

This research contributes to disentangle future precipitation uncertainty globally by exploring long-term trends in projected seasonal precipitation of 32 CMIP5 models for the period 1980-2100. We first estimate trend slopes and significance in long-term future seasonal precipitation using the Sen-Slope and Mann-Kendall tests. Then, we assess convergence in direction of trends across seasons and highlight the world’s regions with consistent drying and wetting convergence as well as the seasonal dominance of precipitation trends.

A consistent drying pattern – where at least 78% of GCMs (25 GCMs) have decreasing precipitation trends – was observed in Central America, South and North Africa, South Europe, Southern USA and Southern South America. Unlike, a strong convergence in projected long-term wetness – where at least 78% of GCMs (25 GCMs) have increasing precipitation trends – was observed across most of Asia, Central Africa, Northern Europe, Canada, Northern US and South Brazil and surrounds.

Results show a convergence in direction of seasonal precipitation trends revealing the world’s regions likely to experience changes in precipitation patterns in future. The approach is promisor to summarize trends in seasonal time-series from multiple GCMs and better constrain wetting and drying patterns of precipitation. This study provides meaningful insights to inform water resource management and climate change adaptation.