Storm Marta continues an unusually active start to the year for Iberia and parts of Morocco, with a spate of named storms dumping torrential rain on already-saturated ground, breaking records and adding to flooding.

Record rain from Storm Leonardo, followed by Storm Marta

Storm Leonardo brought strong winds and record-breaking rainfall to some parts of Iberia on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

Grazalema in southern Spain saw nearly 600mm in 24 hours, comparable with London’s annual average rainfall, with extensive flooding being reported, along with some rockfalls and landslides. Across in northern Morocco, the rainfall has added to the flooding which has now caused 150,000 people to be evacuated.

While Friday last week was drier, another low pressure area named Storm Marta brought further heavy rain and strong winds in Iberia from Saturday.

#StormMarta #BorrascaMarta - 9am, 07/02 - currently lying just West of Portugal and looking very potent with heavy rain or thundery downpours now affecting areas to SW/ S of Iberia.#Gibraltar pic.twitter.com/rfxzJY5icU

— MeteoGib (@MeteoGib) February 7, 2026

Active start to the year for Iberia

The effects from these storms are being exacerbated by the turbulent start to the year with Marta being the seventh named storm to affect Iberia. As a result of this, Spain had its wettest January since 2001 with some parts of the south faring the worst, along with Catalonia in the north-east.

Across in northern Morocco, Tangier had over four times its normal January rainfall and has already had double its February rainfall. Southern France has also been very wet, with Meteo France reporting that one site called Leucate had more rain in January 2026 than in the whole of 2023.

The extreme rainfall is part of a broader pattern of volatile weather gripping Europe, with Scandinavia experiencing its coldest January in decades while Iberia endured record rain.

Link between cold weather and heavy rain

While they may seem like separate events, the cold weather and record-breaking rainfall seen during January are linked. A large area of high pressure has been responsible for trapping very cold air across northern parts of Europe while at the same time blocking the track of depressions, sending them down to the UK and Mediterranean where they have brought such stormy weather.

Respite from the rain this week

So, after Storm Marta can we expect further named storms impacting the same regions? After Storm Marta passes on Saturday there will be further wind and rain on Monday. After that the low pressure centres should move further north bringing something a bit drier to the worst affected areas, for a few days at least.