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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves dealing with the consequences of widespread flooding in the wake of Storm Claudia unleashed torrential downpours and strong winds last week.

The Storm's Origin and Path

The storm system developed from an area of low pressure that had previously ushered in early season chilly and snowy weather through the eastern regions of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the second week of November before losing momentum and stopping to the northwestern area of the Iberian region, snared in a dip of an ever more meandering atmospheric river.

Effects in the Iberian Peninsula

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with three to six inches of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday evening as a sluggish front of rain drifted across the western sectors of the region.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday caused inundations to areas in Portugal where an elderly couple died in the city of Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.

Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in the town of Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday last week, claiming the life of an elderly British lady and wounding 28 people.

Wider Effects across Europe

This system triggered wider effects across the western European nations. By siphoning heated air from the subtropics, the system assisted in raising temperatures in France's south-west to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the state's maximum ever late autumn reading.

By Friday, this warm and humid air mass collided with a chilly atmospheric body across more northern parts of the continent, generating a precipitation zone running from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

In the United Kingdom, this halting system of rain produced very high rainfall totals, leading to major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As Claudia loses strength early this week, the cold air mass will move towards the south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of winter.

Simultaneous Occurrences in California, USA

The US state of California experienced an "atmospheric river" the previous week, causing torrential rain and high-velocity gusts that resulted in sudden inundations and debris flows in regions affected by wildfires previously in the year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain fell in southern California on last Friday, with a further 50mm across extensive areas of California on the subsequent Saturday.

Over four inches of rain fell over coastal areas of southern California in aggregate, hitting 200mm overall in spots on high ground.

An atmospheric river is a concentrated stream of warm, moist air coming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena suffered the most severe the sudden floods and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

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