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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves recovering from extensive flooding following Tempest Claudia unleashed torrential downpours and powerful gusts over the past seven days.

The Storm's Formation and Trajectory

This weather system formed from an area of low pressure that had previously caused early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through the eastern regions of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States during the beginning of the eleventh month.

Claudia moved eastward across the Atlantic during the second weekend 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 atmospheric river.

Impact on the Iberian Peninsula

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was the first affected, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just one full day up to the evening of Wednesday as a slow-moving band of rain crawled across western parts of the peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on the following Thursday caused inundations to parts of Portugal where an older couple lost their lives in the city of Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River invaded their residence as they slept.

Unsettled atmospheric states continued into the weekend, with a twister ripping through a campsite and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in the south in Portugal's south on Saturday, fatally injuring an elderly British lady and wounding 28 individuals.

Wider Effects across Europe

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

By last Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body collided with a frigid air system across the northern areas of the continent, creating a rainfall belt extending from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the Britain, this stalling band of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As Claudia loses strength at the start of the week, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, providing the continent its first taste of colder weather.

Simultaneous Occurrences in the state of California

The Golden State experienced a so-called atmospheric river the previous week, causing heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that led to sudden inundations and mudslides in areas impacted by wildfires previously in the year.

Over two inches of rain fell in California's southern part on Friday, with a further 50mm widely across the state on Saturday last.

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

This meteorological feature is a plume of warm, moist air originating from the tropics or subtropics.

Locations with fire damage including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena suffered the most intense the sudden floods and landslides, prompting evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a 71-year-old man passed away after his car was swept off a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her father were swept into the Pacific by big swells on the the state's central shoreline.