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Portugal and Spain are once more battling the aftermath of significant flooding following Tempest Claudia delivered heavy rain and strong winds last week.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

The storm system originated from an area of low pressure that had previously ushered in unseasonably early chilly and snowy weather through the eastern regions of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US at the start of November.

This storm moved eastward across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before losing momentum and stopping to the northwestern area of the Iberian region, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified atmospheric river.

Impact on Iberia

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was hit first, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its western coastline in just a single day up to the evening of Wednesday as a sluggish front of rain crawled across western parts of the Iberian peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday last week led to floods to areas in Portugal where an older couple perished in the city of Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River invaded their residence as they were asleep.

Tempestuous weather lasted through the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a close-by inn in Albufeira in the south in southern Portugal on Saturday last week, fatally injuring an elderly British lady and wounding 28 people.

Wider Effects across Europe

The storm produced wider effects across Europe's western part. By siphoning heated air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in south-west France to 29.8C (85.6F), the nation's all-time high autumn temperature.

By last Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body met a cold air mass across the northern areas of the continent, forming a band of rain running from the west of Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the UK, this stalling band of rain produced exceptionally large precipitation amounts, causing major inundations in the Welsh region.

As this weather phenomenon progressively weakens in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will advance southward, delivering to Europe its premier experience of winter.

Related Incidents in California, USA

California underwent a plume of tropical moisture last week, delivering heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that provoked flash flooding and landslides in areas affected by wildfires previously in the year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain poured down in the southern region of the state on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres widely across the state on Saturday.

Over four inches of rain was deposited on coastal areas of southern California in total, reaching a full 200 millimetres in areas of elevated terrain.

Such a weather system is a narrow band of tropical, saturated air stemming from the tropics or subtropics.

Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena region experienced the worst of the sudden floods and earth movements, leading to evacuations.

Across California, a 71-year-old man lost his life after his vehicle was swept off a submerged bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were dragged into the ocean by big swells on the Central Coast.