DR ‹ › The torrential rains that struck Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula at the beginning of 2026, resulting in dozens of fatalities and displacing hundreds of thousands, were exacerbated by climate change, according to a study released Thursday by the scientific group World Weather Attribution (WWA). The report reveals that the region's heaviest rainfall days are now approximately 30% wetter compared to the pre-industrial era, a time when the global average temperature was about 1.3°C cooler. The WWA underscores a significant intensification of extreme precipitation events. From January 16 to February 17, nine consecutive storms battered Morocco, Spain, and Portugal with relentless rains and fierce winds. This storm sequence was partly due to a high-pressure system stalled over Scandinavia and Greenland, which allowed a continuous series of disturbances to sweep across Western Europe. Contributing to the severity were unusually warm Atlantic Ocean waters west of the Iberian Peninsula, which fueled these storms by increasing the moisture available. The World Weather Attribution group is at the forefront of «attribution» science, employing rigorous methods to determine the impact of climate change on extreme weather events. This methodology involves comparing current data with climate simulations that replicate conditions before the industrial era and the widespread use of fossil fuels, dating back to the 19th century. In this study, researchers analyzed the most intense daily rainfall events recorded in Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, then traced their evolution to the pre-industrial period to assess how global warming has altered their frequency and intensity.
