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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves recovering from extensive inundation after Storm Claudia delivered heavy rain and strong winds the previous week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event originated from an area of low pressure that had earlier caused unseasonably early cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States in early November.

Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic over 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 jet stream.

Impact on the Iberian Peninsula

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was hit first, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just a single day up to Wednesday evening as a sluggish front of rain crawled across the western areas of the peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday last week brought flooding to areas in Portugal where an elderly couple perished in the city of Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they slept.

Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a twister tearing through a camping ground and a close-by inn in the town of Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday last week, claiming the life of an elderly British lady and wounding two dozen and eight persons.

Broader Impacts across the European continent

Claudia had broader repercussions across western Europe. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in France's south-west to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the nation's all-time high November temperature.

By last Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a cold air mass across the northern regions of Europe, forming a band of rain running from western Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the UK, this stationary front of rain brought record-breaking rain accumulations, leading to significant waterlogging in Wales.

As the storm progressively weakens early this week, the cold air mass will advance southward, delivering to Europe its premier experience of colder weather.

Simultaneous Occurrences in California, USA

California underwent an "atmospheric river" the previous week, bringing torrential rain and high-velocity gusts that provoked flash flooding and mudslides in zones impacted by blazes in the recent past.

Over two inches of rain fell in the southern region of the state on Friday, with a further 50mm across extensive areas of California on Saturday last.

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain accumulated over coastal parts of southern California in all, attaining 200mm overall in spots on high ground.

Such a weather system is a narrow band of tropical, saturated air stemming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Regions previously burned including Palisades and Altadena suffered the most severe the rapid inundations and earth movements, forcing residents to flee.

Elsewhere in California, a 71-year-old man passed away after his car was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her father were swept into the ocean by big swells on the the state's central shoreline.