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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves battling the aftermath of significant flooding in the wake of Tempest Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds over the past seven days.

The Storm's Formation and Trajectory

This weather system originated from a low-pressure zone that had earlier ushered in unseasonably early cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of Canada and the American north-east during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm moved eastward across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the second week of November before losing momentum and stopping to the northwestern area of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, trapped within a trough of an ever more meandering jet stream.

Consequences for Spain and Portugal

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was hit first, with three to six inches of rain coming down along its west coast in just a single day up to Wednesday night as a slow-moving band of rain crawled across western parts of the Iberian peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on the following Thursday brought flooding to parts of Portugal where an elderly couple lost their lives in Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River invaded their residence as they were asleep.

Unsettled atmospheric states continued into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a campsite and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday, fatally injuring an British woman aged 85 and wounding two dozen and eight persons.

Wider Effects across Europe

Claudia had wider effects across the western European nations. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in south-west France to 29.8C (85.6F), the country's highest recorded autumn temperature.

By Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body collided with a chilly atmospheric body across the northern regions of the continent, generating a band of rain extending from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

In the United Kingdom, this stalling band of rain brought record-breaking rain accumulations, leading to major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As this weather phenomenon progressively weakens early this week, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of winter.

Related Incidents in California

The US state of California encountered a so-called atmospheric river last week, causing intense precipitation and high-velocity gusts that led to flash flooding and mudslides in zones affected by forest fires in the recent past.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain poured down in southern California on Friday, with a further 50mm widely across the state on Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain fell over coastal parts of the state's south in aggregate, hitting eight inches in total in areas of elevated terrain.

An atmospheric river is a narrow band of warm, moist air stemming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena experienced the most intense the flash flooding and landslides, leading to evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a man in his seventies died after his automobile was carried away from a flooded bridge, and a young girl aged seven and her dad were pulled into the sea by powerful waves on the California's Central Coast.