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The Iberian nations are again recovering from extensive inundation following Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and powerful gusts the previous week.

Claudia's Origin and Path

This weather system developed from an area of low pressure that had beforehand caused unseasonably early chilly and snowy weather through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm moved eastward across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the northwestern area of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, snared in a dip of an progressively more wavy jet stream.

Consequences for Spain and Portugal

Galicia in north-west Spain was initially impacted, with 80-150mm of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday evening as a leisurely moving system of rain pushed across western parts of the peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday last week caused inundations to parts of Portugal where a senior pair perished in the city of Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus entered their home as they slept.

Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a twister tearing through a camping ground and a close-by inn in Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday, killing an elderly British lady and harming two dozen and eight persons.

Wider Effects across Europe

This system triggered more extensive impacts across the western European nations. By drawing warm air from the warmer regions, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the nation's all-time high autumn temperature.

By Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a cold air mass across the northern areas of Europe, forming a precipitation zone running from western Ireland to Russia.

In the UK, this stalling band of rain produced exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in severe flooding in Wales.

As this weather phenomenon progressively weakens at the start of the week, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, providing the continent its first taste of the winter season.

Simultaneous Occurrences in the state of California

California underwent an "atmospheric river" recently, delivering torrential rain and high-velocity gusts that led to rapid flooding and debris flows in zones scarred by forest fires previously in the year.

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

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain accumulated over shoreline regions of the state's south in total, reaching a full 200 millimetres in areas of elevated terrain.

Such a weather system is a concentrated stream of tropical, saturated air originating from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Locations with fire damage including Pacific Palisades and the town of Altadena endured the worst of the sudden floods and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a 71-year-old man passed away after his car was washed off a submerged bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her dad were pulled into the sea by big swells on the California's Central Coast.