Abstract. Thermodynamic and dynamic atmospheric stability indices will be analysed in order to classify the rainfall types occurred in western Iberia and provide information about the associated meteorological phenomena and preferred regional instability sources. In this work, instability sources over the western Iberian Peninsula will be characterised by means of radiosonde station data and reanalysis data sets from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), for the period 1971–2002. Dynamic stability indices such as the Q vector divergence (dQ) or the potential vorticity anomaly in the 330 K isentropic surface (PV) have been calculated with the aim of establishing different atmospheric stability scenarios. Furthermore, thermodynamic atmospheric stability contribution has been also evaluated with Total Totals index (TT) and moisture availability was inferred from circulation weather types (CWTs). The first results of this work assess the combined dynamic-thermodynamic preferred conditions, synoptic situations and humidity sources, leading to precipitation events over the western Iberian Peninsula and prove the essential role of CWT patterns on the rainfall genesis.