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Portugal and Spain are once more recovering from widespread inundation in the wake of Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds the previous week.

The Storm's Formation and Trajectory

This weather system formed from a low-pressure zone that had beforehand driven early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through the eastern sectors of the Canadian territory and the American north-east during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm moved eastward across the Atlantic over the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the northwestern area of the Iberian region, caught in the trough of an ever more meandering air current.

Effects in Iberia

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 24 hours up to Wednesday night as a sluggish front of rain crawled across the western areas of the Iberian peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday brought flooding to areas in Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in the capital Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River invaded their residence as they were asleep.

Unsettled atmospheric states lasted through the weekend, with a violent whirlwind devastating a camping ground and a adjacent hotel in the town of Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday, fatally injuring an elderly British lady and harming 28 people.

Broader Impacts across the European continent

Claudia had wider effects across the western European nations. By pulling tropical air from the subtropics, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in south-west France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the country's highest recorded November temperature.

By Friday, this warm and humid air mass met a chilly atmospheric body across the northern areas of Europe, forming a rainfall belt stretching from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

In the United Kingdom, this stalling band of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As this weather phenomenon progressively weakens early this week, the frigid air will move towards the south, giving Europe its first taste of the winter season.

Related Incidents in the state of California

The US state of California underwent an "atmospheric river" the previous week, bringing heavy rain and strong winds that resulted in flash flooding and landslides in zones impacted by wildfires in the recent past.

Over two inches of rain fell in the southern region of the state on Friday, with a additional two inches broadly over the state on Saturday.

Over four inches of rain was deposited on coastal parts of Southern CA in all, reaching a full 200 millimetres in spots on high ground.

An atmospheric river is a plume of tropical, saturated air originating from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena endured the most severe the flash flooding and landslides, leading to evacuations.

Across California, a man in his seventies died after his vehicle was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a child of seven years and her father were dragged into the ocean by big swells on the the state's central shoreline.