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The Iberian nations are again dealing with the consequences of widespread flooding in the wake of Storm Claudia unleashed torrential downpours and powerful gusts the previous week.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

The storm system originated from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had earlier caused unseasonably early cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of Canada and the American north-east in early November.

Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the second week of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, snared in a dip of an progressively more wavy jet stream.

Impact on Spain and Portugal

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain falling along its western coastline in just a single day up to the evening of Wednesday as a leisurely moving system of rain pushed across the western areas of the Iberian peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on the following Thursday brought flooding to parts of Portugal where an older couple lost their lives in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River entered their home as they were asleep.

Unsettled atmospheric states continued into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind devastating a outdoor lodging area and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in Portugal's south on Saturday last week, claiming the life of an British woman aged 85 and injuring two dozen and eight persons.

Broader Impacts across Europe

The storm produced broader repercussions across Europe's western part. By drawing warm 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 tropical air mass met a frigid air system across the northern regions of the continent, generating a band of rain running from western Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the UK, this halting system of rain delivered very high rainfall totals, resulting in major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As Claudia loses strength at the start of the week, the cold air mass will move towards the south, delivering to Europe its first taste of the winter season.

Parallel Events in the state of California

The Golden State experienced a plume of tropical moisture the previous week, bringing intense precipitation and powerful winds that resulted in rapid flooding and mudslides in zones affected by forest fires earlier this year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain was recorded in the southern region of the state on Friday, with a additional two inches widely across the state on the subsequent Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on shoreline regions of the state's south in all, reaching 200mm overall in areas of elevated terrain.

This meteorological feature is a narrow band of tropical, saturated air coming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Locations with fire damage including Palisades and Altadena experienced the most severe the rapid inundations and landslides, leading to evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a man in his seventies died after his car was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were pulled into the Pacific by big swells on the Central Coast.