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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves recovering from extensive flooding in the wake of Storm Claudia delivered heavy rain and powerful gusts the previous week.

The Storm's Origin and Path

This weather system originated from an area of low pressure that had previously ushered in early season cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern United States at the start of November.

The system tracked eastwards across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the northwestern area of the Iberian region, caught in the trough of an progressively more wavy air current.

Effects in Iberia

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with 80-150mm of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just a single day up to Wednesday night as a sluggish front of rain drifted across western parts of the peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday last week caused inundations to parts of Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in the city of Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River entered their home as they rested.

Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a tornado ripping through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday, fatally injuring an elderly British lady and wounding two dozen and eight persons.

Wider Effects across the European continent

Claudia had broader repercussions across the western European nations. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in south-west 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 frigid air system across the northern regions of Europe, creating a precipitation zone running from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

In the UK, this stationary front of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, leading to major inundations in the Welsh region.

As Claudia loses strength early this week, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of winter.

Related Incidents in the state of California

The Golden State experienced a plume of tropical moisture the previous week, delivering intense precipitation and powerful winds that resulted in flash flooding and debris flows in regions scarred by wildfires in the recent past.

Over two inches of rain was recorded in California's southern part on last Friday, with a further 50mm widely across the state on the subsequent Saturday.

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain accumulated over coastal parts of Southern CA in total, hitting a full 200 millimetres in spots on high ground.

This meteorological feature is a plume of warm, moist air coming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Regions previously burned including Pacific Palisades and Altadena experienced the most intense the rapid inundations and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a man in his seventies died after his automobile was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were dragged into the ocean by powerful waves on the the state's central shoreline.