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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves battling the aftermath of significant inundation in the wake of Tempest Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds the previous week.

Claudia's Formation and Trajectory

This weather system originated from an area of low pressure that had beforehand ushered in unseasonably early freezing temperatures and snowfall through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the American north-east at the start of November.

This storm moved eastward across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Iberian region, snared in a dip of an progressively more wavy air current.

Effects in Iberia

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with three to six inches of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just a single day up to Wednesday evening as a leisurely moving system of rain drifted across western parts of the Iberian peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on the following Thursday led to floods to Portuguese localities where an older couple died in Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they were asleep.

Unsettled atmospheric states persisted into the weekend, with a tornado devastating a campsite and a close-by inn in Albufeira in the south in Portugal's south on Saturday last week, claiming the life of an British woman aged 85 and harming two dozen and eight persons.

Extended Consequences across Europe

Claudia had broader repercussions across the western European nations. By drawing warm air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in south-west France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the state's maximum ever late autumn reading.

By Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body clashed with a chilly atmospheric body across more northern parts of the continent, creating a precipitation zone stretching from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

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

As Claudia progressively weakens in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will push south, giving Europe its first taste of colder weather.

Related Incidents in California, USA

The Golden State encountered an "atmospheric river" the previous week, bringing torrential rain and powerful winds that provoked rapid flooding and landslides in regions impacted by wildfires previously in the year.

More than 50mm of rain fell in the southern region of the state on last Friday, with a additional two inches widely across the state on Saturday.

Over four inches of rain was deposited on coastal areas of southern California in total, hitting 200mm overall in locations at higher elevations.

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

Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena region experienced the most intense the flash flooding and mudslides, prompting evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a 71-year-old man died after his automobile was washed off a submerged bridge, and a young girl aged seven and her father were dragged into the sea by powerful waves on the California's Central Coast.