Abstract. To date very low scores are associated to quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF) of warm season precipitation, a fact mostly due to the little knowledge of the mechanisms driving these phenomena. The study aims to produce a five-year climatology (1999–2003) of warm season precipitation systems (MJJA) over Europe using Meteosat IR brightness temperatures as a contribution to a global study launched by the World Weather Research Programme (WWRP). Cold cloud persistence, span and duration of weather systems were determined to derive the zonal propagation speed and daily cycles.