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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves battling the aftermath of significant inundation in the wake of Storm Claudia delivered heavy rain and powerful gusts the previous week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event originated from a low-pressure zone that had earlier driven early season cold and snowy conditions through the eastern sectors of Canada and the American north-east during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm tracked eastwards across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the northwestern area of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, trapped within a trough of an progressively more wavy jet stream.

Effects in Spain and Portugal

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with 80-150mm of rain pouring down along its western coastline in just a single day up to Wednesday night as a slow-moving band of rain crawled across the western areas of the Iberian peninsula.

More downpours and stormy weather on the following Thursday led to floods to areas in Portugal where an elderly couple perished in the city of Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River entered their home as they were asleep.

Tempestuous weather persisted into the weekend, with a tornado devastating a campsite and a nearby hotel in the town of Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday, fatally injuring an 85-year-old British woman and harming 28 individuals.

Wider Effects across Europe

The storm produced more extensive impacts across western Europe. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the state's maximum ever autumn temperature.

By the following Friday, this warm and humid air mass collided with a cold air mass across the northern areas of Europe, creating a rainfall belt stretching from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the Britain, this stationary front of rain brought very high rainfall totals, leading to major inundations in the Welsh region.

As Claudia loses strength at the start of the week, the cold air mass will advance southward, delivering to Europe its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Related Incidents in California

The US state of California encountered a so-called atmospheric river last week, bringing heavy rain and strong winds that resulted in rapid flooding and landslides in areas scarred by wildfires in the recent past.

More than 50mm of rain was recorded in the southern region of the state on Friday, with a additional two inches across extensive areas of California on Saturday last.

Over four inches of rain fell over coastal areas of southern California in all, attaining eight inches in total in areas of elevated terrain.

This meteorological feature is a plume of tropical, saturated air stemming from the tropics or subtropics.

Burn scar areas including Pacific Palisades and the town of Altadena endured the most severe the flash flooding and landslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a man in his seventies died after his vehicle was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her father were dragged into the Pacific by big swells on the the state's central shoreline.