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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves recovering from extensive inundation in the wake of Storm Claudia delivered heavy rain and powerful gusts last week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

The storm system formed from an area of low pressure that had beforehand driven early season chilly and snowy weather through the eastern sectors of Canada and the north-eastern United States at the start of November.

Claudia journeyed east across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, trapped within a trough of an increasingly amplified air current.

Consequences for the Iberian Peninsula

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to the evening of Wednesday as a slow-moving band of rain drifted across the western sectors of the peninsula.

More downpours and stormy weather on Thursday caused inundations to areas in Portugal where a senior pair died in the city of Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus invaded their residence as they slept.

Stormy conditions lasted through the weekend, with a twister tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a nearby hotel in the town of Albufeira in Portugal's south on the weekend's Saturday, fatally injuring an British woman aged 85 and wounding 28 individuals.

Wider Effects across Europe

This system triggered more extensive impacts across western Europe. By siphoning heated air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to 29.8C (85.6F), the country's highest recorded late autumn reading.

By the following Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body clashed with a frigid air system across the northern regions of Europe, generating a band of rain stretching from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the UK, this stationary front of rain brought very high rainfall totals, leading to severe flooding in Wales.

As this weather phenomenon continues to weaken in the coming days, the frigid air will advance southward, providing the continent its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Parallel Events in California

The US state of California underwent a so-called atmospheric river the previous week, delivering intense precipitation and powerful winds that provoked rapid flooding and landslides in zones scarred by forest fires in the recent past.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain was recorded in California's southern part on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres across extensive areas of California on the subsequent Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on coastal areas of Southern CA in total, attaining a full 200 millimetres in areas of elevated terrain.

An atmospheric river is a concentrated stream of hot, humid air coming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena experienced the worst of the rapid inundations and landslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a 71-year-old man passed away after his automobile was carried away from a flooded bridge, and a child of seven years and her parent were pulled into the ocean by large waves on the California's Central Coast.