The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 7 letter word DRY SEASONS
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
D
R
Y
S
E
A
S
O
N
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "when it doesn’t rain" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case when it doesn’t rain = dry seasons.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.