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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves battling the aftermath of significant inundation following Tempest Claudia delivered torrential downpours and strong winds the previous week.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

The storm system originated from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had previously caused unseasonably early freezing temperatures and snowfall through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern United States in early November.

This storm journeyed east across the Atlantic over the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Iberian region, snared in a dip of an progressively more wavy jet stream.

Impact on the Iberian Peninsula

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was hit first, with three to six inches of rain pouring down along its west coast in just a single day up to Wednesday night as a leisurely moving system of rain drifted across the western sectors of the Iberian peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday brought flooding to parts of Portugal where an older couple died in Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.

Unsettled atmospheric states persisted into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind devastating a campsite and a nearby hotel in the town of Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday last week, fatally injuring an British woman aged 85 and injuring two dozen and eight persons.

Wider Effects across Europe

Claudia had broader repercussions across the western European nations. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system assisted in raising temperatures in south-west France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the state's maximum ever autumn temperature.

By Friday, this warm and humid air mass collided with a cold air mass across the northern areas of the continent, creating a band of rain stretching from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the United Kingdom, this halting system of rain brought very high rainfall totals, causing major inundations in the Welsh region.

As Claudia progressively weakens early this week, the frigid air will advance southward, delivering to Europe its premier experience of winter.

Simultaneous Occurrences in the state of California

The US state of California encountered an "atmospheric river" the previous week, delivering heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that resulted in rapid flooding and landslides in areas scarred by blazes earlier this year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain poured down in southern California on Friday, with a additional two inches across extensive areas of California on the subsequent Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on shoreline regions of Southern CA in aggregate, attaining a full 200 millimetres in locations at higher elevations.

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

Regions previously burned including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena region experienced the most intense the rapid inundations and landslides, prompting evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a elderly male lost his life after his vehicle was swept off a submerged bridge, and a young girl aged seven and her parent were dragged into the Pacific by large waves on the California's Central Coast.