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The Iberian nations are again battling the aftermath of widespread flooding after Storm Claudia brought torrential downpours and strong winds the previous week.

The Storm's Origin and Path

This meteorological event developed from a low-pressure zone that had previously ushered in early season 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 Ocean during the second weekend of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, snared in a dip of an ever more meandering atmospheric river.

Consequences for Iberia

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was hit first, with three to six inches of rain falling along its west coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday night as a slow-moving band of rain crawled across western parts of the Iberian peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday brought flooding to parts of Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in the capital Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River invaded their residence as they slept.

Stormy conditions continued into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in Portugal's south on the weekend's Saturday, claiming the life of an elderly British lady and injuring 28 individuals.

Wider Effects across Europe

Claudia had broader repercussions across western Europe. By siphoning heated air from the warmer regions, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in southwestern France to 29.8C (85.6F), the nation's all-time high late autumn reading.

By last Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a chilly atmospheric body across the northern regions of Europe, generating a band of rain running from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the United Kingdom, this stationary front of rain produced very high rainfall totals, leading to severe flooding in Wales.

As Claudia continues to weaken in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of colder weather.

Parallel Events in California

The US state of California underwent a so-called atmospheric river the previous week, bringing intense precipitation and strong winds that provoked flash flooding and debris flows in regions scarred by blazes in the recent past.

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

Over four inches of rain was deposited on shoreline regions of Southern CA in total, attaining 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.

Regions previously burned including Palisades and Altadena region suffered the most intense the rapid inundations and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a 71-year-old man passed away after his automobile was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were pulled into the Pacific by big swells on the the state's central shoreline.