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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves dealing with the consequences of significant inundation after Storm Claudia brought torrential downpours and powerful gusts over the past seven days.

Claudia's Formation and Trajectory

The storm system formed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had beforehand driven unseasonably early chilly and snowy weather through the eastern regions of Canada and the north-eastern US during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm journeyed east across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, snared in a dip of an increasingly amplified atmospheric river.

Effects in the Iberian Peninsula

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday evening as a leisurely moving system of rain crawled across the western sectors of the region.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday caused inundations to parts of Portugal where an older couple lost their lives in the capital Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus flooded their dwelling as they slept.

Tempestuous weather persisted into the weekend, with a twister ripping through a camping ground and a adjacent hotel in the town of Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday, fatally injuring an 85-year-old British woman and harming two dozen and eight persons.

Extended Consequences across the European continent

This system triggered more extensive impacts across western Europe. By drawing warm air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the country's highest recorded November temperature.

By Friday, this tropical air mass met a cold air mass across the northern areas of Europe, generating a band of rain stretching from the west of Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the Britain, this stationary front of rain brought very high rainfall totals, causing severe flooding in the principality of Wales.

As this weather phenomenon loses strength in the coming days, the cold air mass will push south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Simultaneous Occurrences in the state of California

The Golden State underwent a so-called atmospheric river last week, causing intense precipitation and strong winds that led to sudden inundations and mudslides in regions impacted by blazes earlier this year.

Over two inches of rain was recorded in the southern region of the state on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres across extensive areas of California on Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on coastal parts of the state's south in aggregate, reaching eight inches in total in areas of elevated terrain.

An atmospheric river is a narrow band of tropical, saturated air coming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Burn scar areas including Palisades and Altadena suffered the most intense the sudden floods and mudslides, prompting evacuations.

Across California, a elderly male passed away after his automobile was swept off a flooded bridge, and a young girl aged seven and her parent were pulled into the ocean by big swells on the the state's central shoreline.