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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves dealing with the consequences of significant flooding in the wake of Tempest Claudia brought heavy rain and powerful gusts the previous week.

The Storm's Origin and Path

This weather system developed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had beforehand ushered in unseasonably early freezing temperatures and snowfall through the eastern regions of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US in early November.

Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before slowing and stalling to the northwestern area of the Iberian region, trapped within a trough of an ever more meandering air current.

Impact on Iberia

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was initially impacted, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain pouring down along its west coast in just one full day up to the evening of Wednesday as a leisurely moving system of rain crawled across the western areas of the Iberian peninsula.

More downpours and stormy weather on Thursday caused inundations to Portuguese localities where a senior pair died in Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River invaded their residence as they were asleep.

Tempestuous weather continued into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in the Algarve region on the weekend's Saturday, killing an elderly British lady and injuring 28 people.

Wider Effects across Europe

This system triggered more extensive impacts across the western European nations. By drawing warm air from the warmer regions, the system assisted in raising temperatures in France's south-west to 29.8C (85.6F), the state's maximum ever November temperature.

By the following Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body collided with a frigid air system across more northern parts of the continent, creating a precipitation zone running from the west of Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the United Kingdom, this stationary front of rain produced very high rainfall totals, causing significant waterlogging in the principality of Wales.

As Claudia progressively weakens in the coming days, the cold air mass will move towards the south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of colder weather.

Simultaneous Occurrences in California, USA

The Golden State encountered a plume of tropical moisture the previous week, bringing intense precipitation and powerful winds that led to flash flooding and landslides in areas scarred by wildfires earlier this year.

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

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain was deposited on coastal parts of southern California in all, reaching eight inches in total in areas of elevated terrain.

Such a weather system is a plume of tropical, saturated air coming from the tropics or subtropics.

Burn scar areas including Palisades and the town of Altadena experienced the most severe the sudden floods and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a man in his seventies passed away after his automobile was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were swept into the sea by big swells on the California's Central Coast.