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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves recovering from widespread flooding in the wake of Storm Claudia unleashed heavy rain and strong winds last week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event formed from a low-pressure zone that had earlier caused early season chilly and snowy weather through the eastern regions of Canada and the American north-east during the beginning of the eleventh month.

The system tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Iberian region, trapped within a trough of an increasingly amplified air current.

Effects in the Iberian Peninsula

Galicia in north-west Spain was the first affected, with 80-150mm of rain falling along its west coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday night as a leisurely moving system of rain pushed across western parts of the region.

More downpours and stormy weather on the following Thursday brought flooding to parts of Portugal where an elderly couple perished in the capital Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.

Tempestuous weather persisted into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind ripping through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in Portugal's south on Saturday, killing an 85-year-old British woman and injuring 28 people.

Broader Impacts across the European continent

This system triggered more extensive impacts across the western European nations. By pulling tropical air from the warmer regions, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the state's maximum ever November temperature.

By last Friday, this tropical air mass met a frigid air system across the northern areas of Europe, creating a band of rain stretching from western Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the Britain, this stationary front of rain brought record-breaking rain accumulations, leading to significant waterlogging in the Welsh region.

As this weather phenomenon continues to weaken in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will push south, delivering to Europe its premier experience of colder weather.

Parallel Events in California

California experienced a so-called atmospheric river recently, bringing intense precipitation and strong winds that resulted in sudden inundations and mudslides in zones affected by blazes in the recent past.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain fell in California's southern part on the week's end, with a additional two inches broadly over the state on the subsequent Saturday.

Over four inches of rain was deposited on coastal areas of Southern CA in aggregate, hitting 200mm overall in areas of elevated terrain.

This meteorological feature is a narrow band of warm, moist air stemming from the tropics or subtropics.

Regions previously burned including Pacific Palisades and the town of Altadena experienced the most severe the flash flooding and landslides, prompting evacuations.

Across California, a man in his seventies lost his life after his automobile was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were dragged into the Pacific by big swells on the California's Central Coast.