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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves recovering from significant flooding following Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds over the past seven days.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

The storm system originated from a low-pressure zone that had previously driven unseasonably early cold and snowy conditions through the eastern regions of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US at the start of November.

Claudia journeyed east across the Atlantic Ocean over the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified jet stream.

Impact on Spain and Portugal

Galicia in north-west Spain was initially impacted, with three to six inches of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday night as a leisurely moving system of rain crawled across western parts of the region.

More downpours and stormy weather on the following Thursday led to floods to parts of Portugal where an older couple perished in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.

Tempestuous weather persisted into the weekend, with a tornado ripping through a campsite and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday last week, claiming the life of an elderly British lady and harming 28 individuals.

Extended Consequences across the European continent

This system triggered broader repercussions across Europe's western part. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in France's south-west to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the nation's all-time high autumn temperature.

By the following Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body collided with a chilly atmospheric body across more northern parts of the continent, generating a precipitation zone running from western Ireland to Russia.

In the UK, this stalling band of rain brought exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in severe flooding in the Welsh region.

As the storm progressively weakens early this week, the frigid air will move towards the south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of colder weather.

Parallel Events in the state of California

The US state of California underwent a so-called atmospheric river last week, delivering intense precipitation and strong winds that provoked rapid flooding and landslides in regions impacted by blazes in the recent past.

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

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain was deposited on coastal parts of the state's south in all, reaching eight inches in total in spots on high ground.

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

Burn scar areas including Pacific Palisades and Altadena region endured the worst of the rapid inundations and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a elderly male lost his life after his car was washed off a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her dad were pulled into the sea by large waves on the the state's central shoreline.