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Portugal and Spain are once more recovering from extensive inundation in the wake of Storm Claudia delivered torrential downpours and powerful gusts last week.

Claudia's Formation and Trajectory

This meteorological event developed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had previously caused unseasonably early cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US at the start of November.

Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean over the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Iberian region, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified jet stream.

Consequences for the Iberian Peninsula

Galicia in north-west Spain was the first affected, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its west coast in just one full day up to Wednesday evening as a sluggish front of rain pushed across the western areas of the region.

More downpours and stormy weather on the following Thursday led to floods to Portuguese localities where an older couple perished in the city of Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River invaded their residence as they rested.

Unsettled atmospheric states continued into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a camping ground and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in Portugal's south on the weekend's Saturday, killing an 85-year-old British woman and harming 28 people.

Wider Effects across Europe

This system triggered broader repercussions across Europe's western part. By siphoning heated air from the warmer regions, the system assisted in raising temperatures in south-west France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the state's maximum ever November temperature.

By the following Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body clashed with a cold air mass across the northern regions of the continent, generating a rainfall belt extending from the west of Ireland to Russia.

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

As this weather phenomenon progressively weakens at the start of the week, the cold air mass will advance southward, delivering to Europe its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Related Incidents in California

The US state of California encountered an "atmospheric river" the previous week, causing intense precipitation and high-velocity gusts that resulted in sudden inundations and landslides in regions affected by blazes previously in the year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain was recorded in southern California on Friday, with a another 50 millimetres widely across the state on Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain fell over shoreline regions of Southern CA in all, attaining eight inches in total in areas of elevated terrain.

This meteorological feature is a concentrated stream of hot, humid air stemming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Regions previously burned including Pacific Palisades and the town of Altadena experienced the most intense the rapid inundations and landslides, leading to evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a man in his seventies died after his vehicle was swept off a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her dad were pulled into the Pacific by powerful waves on the the state's central shoreline.