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The Iberian nations are again recovering from extensive flooding following Tempest Claudia delivered torrential downpours and strong winds the previous week.

Claudia's Origin and Path

This weather system formed from a low-pressure zone that had earlier driven unseasonably early chilly and snowy weather through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the American north-east in early November.

Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean over the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, caught in the trough of an progressively more wavy atmospheric river.

Impact on Spain and Portugal

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was the first affected, with 80-150mm of rain coming down along its west coast in just a single day up to the evening of Wednesday as a sluggish front of rain crawled across the western areas of the peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on the following Thursday led to floods to parts of Portugal where an older couple died in the city of Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they rested.

Unsettled atmospheric states continued into the weekend, with a twister tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a close-by inn in Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday last week, fatally injuring an 85-year-old British woman and harming 28 people.

Broader Impacts across the European continent

The storm produced more extensive impacts across Europe's western part. By drawing warm air from the warmer regions, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the country's highest recorded November temperature.

By the following Friday, this tropical air mass clashed with a cold air mass across the northern regions of Europe, generating a precipitation zone stretching from the west of Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the United Kingdom, this halting system of rain delivered record-breaking rain accumulations, resulting in severe flooding in Wales.

As the storm continues to weaken in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will advance southward, providing the continent its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Parallel Events in the state of California

The Golden State underwent a so-called atmospheric river recently, bringing torrential rain and high-velocity gusts that resulted in rapid flooding and landslides in zones affected by blazes previously in the year.

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

Over four inches of rain was deposited on shoreline regions of southern California in total, reaching eight inches in total in spots on high ground.

Such a weather system is a narrow band of warm, moist air stemming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Locations with fire damage including Palisades and the town of Altadena endured the worst of the sudden floods and earth movements, forcing residents to flee.

Elsewhere in California, a elderly male passed away after his automobile was washed off a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her father were swept into the ocean by powerful waves on the Central Coast.