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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves recovering from widespread flooding following Tempest Claudia brought heavy rain and powerful gusts over the past seven days.

Claudia's Origin and Path

This weather system formed from an area of low pressure that had beforehand driven early season cold and snowy conditions through the eastern sectors of the Canadian territory and the American north-east during the beginning of the eleventh month.

The system tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, trapped within a trough of an ever more meandering air current.

Consequences for the Iberian Peninsula

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with 80-150mm of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just one full day up to the evening of Wednesday as a sluggish front of rain crawled across the western areas of the region.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday brought flooding to areas in Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus invaded their residence as they rested.

Tempestuous weather lasted through the weekend, with a violent whirlwind tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a close-by inn in Albufeira in the south in the Algarve region on the weekend's Saturday, fatally injuring an 85-year-old British woman and injuring 28 people.

Extended Consequences across Europe

Claudia had broader repercussions across the western European nations. By siphoning heated air from the warmer regions, the system helped temperatures in France's south-west to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the country's highest recorded late autumn reading.

By Friday, this tropical air mass collided with a frigid air system across the northern areas of Europe, creating a precipitation zone stretching from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the Britain, this halting system of rain brought exceptionally large precipitation amounts, leading to major inundations in the Welsh region.

As the storm loses strength at the start of the week, the chilly atmospheric system will advance southward, giving Europe its first taste of winter.

Simultaneous Occurrences in California

California experienced a so-called atmospheric river last week, bringing torrential rain and strong winds that provoked sudden inundations and landslides in zones affected by forest fires earlier this year.

More than 50mm of rain poured down in southern California on last Friday, with a further 50mm across extensive areas of California on Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on shoreline regions of southern California in total, reaching 200mm overall in locations at higher elevations.

An atmospheric river is a concentrated stream of tropical, saturated air stemming from the tropics or subtropics.

Locations with fire damage including Pacific Palisades and Altadena endured the worst of the flash flooding and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a elderly male died after his car was swept off a inundated overpass, and a child of seven years and her dad were pulled into the Pacific by powerful waves on the the state's central shoreline.