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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves dealing with the consequences of significant inundation in the wake of Tempest Claudia unleashed heavy rain and strong winds over the past seven days.

The Storm's Origin and Path

This meteorological event originated from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had earlier driven early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US at the start of November.

This storm journeyed east across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, trapped within a trough of an increasingly amplified air current.

Effects in Spain and Portugal

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with three to six inches of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to the evening of Wednesday as a leisurely moving system of rain crawled across the western sectors of the region.

More downpours and stormy weather on the following Thursday led to floods to areas in Portugal where an elderly couple perished in the capital Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they rested.

Stormy conditions continued into the weekend, with a tornado ripping through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in Portugal's south on Saturday last week, claiming the life of an 85-year-old British woman and wounding 28 people.

Wider Effects across the European continent

Claudia had broader repercussions across Europe's western part. By pulling tropical air from the subtropical zones, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to 29.8C (85.6F), the country's highest recorded late autumn reading.

By last Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body collided with a chilly atmospheric body across the northern regions of Europe, forming a rainfall belt running from the west of Ireland to Russia.

In the Britain, this halting system of rain brought record-breaking rain accumulations, causing severe flooding in the principality of Wales.

As the storm progressively weakens in the coming days, the frigid air will push south, providing the continent its premier experience of winter.

Related Incidents in the state of California

California underwent a so-called atmospheric river last week, delivering intense precipitation and powerful winds that led to flash flooding and mudslides in zones affected by blazes earlier this year.

Over two inches of rain poured down in the southern region of the state on Friday, with a another 50 millimetres widely across the state on the subsequent Saturday.

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain was deposited on coastal parts of Southern CA in total, hitting a full 200 millimetres in areas of elevated terrain.

Such a weather system is a concentrated stream of tropical, saturated air originating from the tropics or subtropics.

Regions previously burned including Pacific Palisades and Altadena suffered the most intense the flash flooding and earth movements, prompting evacuations.

Across California, a 71-year-old man died after his car was washed off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her dad were pulled into the ocean by large waves on the the state's central shoreline.