Multifractal fluctuations of the precipitation in Spain (1960–2019)

•Multifractal parameters of precipitation series in Spain (1960–1989; 1990–2019).•Different scaling regions were found in the fluctuations of precipitation.•Small timescales show high persistence that follows the gradient of precipitation.•The high persistence found is decreasing in the last decades.•Multifractal parameters modify according to complex patterns at large timescales. In this work, an analysis of multifractal parameters of daily precipitation series over the Iberian Peninsula was performed in two 30-year periods to explore whether these properties follow any pattern. Fluctuations of precipitation series show three different scaling regions. Only two distinct regimes for small and large timescales can be confirmed, while intermediate scales are part of a transition region. It is also observed a certain degree of multifractality, which is higher for small timescales. At these scales, there is a high persistence which follows the spatial gradient of the annual precipitation. Moreover, multifractal parameters of the precipitation are modified according to complex spatial and temporal patterns. Only persistence uniformly decreases in the last period. Other relevant findings are the changes in the asymmetry of multifractal spectra in the eastern belt at larger timescales, which might be related to the change in the behavior of the Mediterranean cyclones.