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Portugal and Spain are once more dealing with the consequences of extensive flooding following Tempest Claudia delivered torrential downpours and strong winds last week.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event formed from a low-pressure zone that had beforehand ushered in early season chilly and snowy weather through the eastern sectors of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US at the start of 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, trapped within a trough of an progressively more wavy jet stream.

Consequences for Spain and Portugal

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was the first affected, with 80-150mm of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just a single day up to the evening of Wednesday as a leisurely moving system of rain drifted across the western areas of the region.

More downpours and stormy weather on Thursday last week brought flooding to parts of Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.

Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a tornado devastating a campsite and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in the Algarve region on the weekend's Saturday, killing an 85-year-old British woman and harming two dozen and eight persons.

Wider Effects across the European continent

The storm produced more extensive impacts across western Europe. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in France's south-west to 29.8C (85.6F), the nation's all-time high late autumn reading.

By Friday, this warm and humid air mass collided with a chilly atmospheric body across the northern regions of the continent, generating a band of rain extending from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

In the UK, this stationary front of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in major inundations in Wales.

As this weather phenomenon continues to weaken in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will push south, providing the continent its first taste of winter.

Simultaneous Occurrences in the state of California

The US state of California experienced an "atmospheric river" last week, causing intense precipitation and high-velocity gusts that provoked flash flooding and landslides in regions scarred by forest fires previously in the year.

Over two inches of rain was recorded in southern California on Friday, with a another 50 millimetres widely across the state on the subsequent Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on coastal parts of Southern CA in aggregate, reaching 200mm overall in locations at higher elevations.

Such a weather system is a plume of hot, humid air coming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Regions previously burned including Palisades and the town of Altadena experienced the most intense the sudden floods and earth movements, forcing residents to flee.

Across California, a 71-year-old man passed away after his car was washed off a inundated overpass, and a young girl aged seven and her dad were dragged into the sea by large waves on the Central Coast.