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Portugal and Spain are once more dealing with the consequences of extensive inundation in the wake of Tempest Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds the previous week.

The Storm's Origin and Path

The storm system formed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had beforehand ushered in early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through the eastern regions of the Canadian territory and the American north-east during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the second week of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Iberian region, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified atmospheric river.

Impact on Iberia

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its western coastline in just one full day up to Wednesday evening as a leisurely moving system of rain pushed across western parts of the peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday last week caused inundations to Portuguese localities where a senior pair died in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River entered their home as they were asleep.

Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind tearing through a campsite and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday, fatally injuring an British woman aged 85 and wounding 28 people.

Extended Consequences across the European continent

This system triggered wider effects across the western European nations. By siphoning heated air from the warmer regions, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in south-west France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the nation's all-time high autumn temperature.

By the following Friday, this tropical air mass clashed with a frigid air system across the northern areas of Europe, forming a precipitation zone running from the west of Ireland to Russia.

In the United Kingdom, this halting system of rain produced very high rainfall totals, leading to major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As Claudia progressively weakens at the start of the week, the frigid air will advance southward, providing the continent its initial glimpse of winter.

Parallel Events in California

California experienced a so-called atmospheric river recently, delivering heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that resulted in rapid flooding and debris flows in regions affected by blazes earlier this year.

More than 50mm of rain poured down in the southern region of the state on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres across extensive areas of California on the subsequent Saturday.

Over four inches of rain fell over coastal areas of Southern CA in all, hitting 200mm overall in locations at higher elevations.

Such a weather system is a plume of warm, moist air originating from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Burn scar areas including Pacific Palisades and Altadena experienced the most severe the rapid inundations and mudslides, forcing residents to flee.

In other parts of the state, a 71-year-old man lost his life after his vehicle was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her father were swept into the Pacific by powerful waves on the Central Coast.