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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves dealing with the consequences of widespread flooding after Tempest Claudia unleashed heavy rain and powerful gusts over the past seven days.

Claudia's Origin and Path

This meteorological event originated from an area of low pressure that had earlier ushered in early season chilly and snowy weather through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US during the beginning of the eleventh month.

This storm moved eastward across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, snared in a dip of an progressively more wavy air current.

Effects in Spain and Portugal

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was initially impacted, with 80-150mm of rain pouring down along its western coastline in just 24 hours up to the evening of Wednesday as a leisurely moving system of rain pushed across the western areas of the region.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday led to floods to parts of Portugal where an elderly couple died in the capital Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus invaded their residence as they rested.

Unsettled atmospheric states persisted into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a campsite and a adjacent hotel in the town of Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday last week, killing an elderly British lady and harming two dozen and eight persons.

Broader Impacts across the European continent

The storm produced broader repercussions across the western European nations. By drawing warm air from the warmer regions, the system helped temperatures in France's south-west to 29.8C (85.6F), the nation's all-time high November temperature.

By last Friday, this tropical air mass clashed with a cold air mass across the northern regions of the continent, creating a precipitation zone extending from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

In the Britain, this stationary front of rain brought record-breaking rain accumulations, resulting in significant waterlogging in Wales.

As the storm loses strength in the coming days, the cold air mass will advance southward, providing the continent its initial glimpse of winter.

Related Incidents in California

California underwent a plume of tropical moisture last week, causing intense precipitation and strong winds that provoked sudden inundations and landslides in areas affected by wildfires previously in the year.

Over two inches of rain was recorded in the southern region of the state on the week's end, with a another 50 millimetres broadly over the state on Saturday last.

More than 100mm of rain fell over coastal parts of southern California in all, reaching a full 200 millimetres in areas of elevated terrain.

This meteorological feature is a concentrated stream of warm, moist air coming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Locations with fire damage including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena region endured the worst of the sudden floods and landslides, prompting evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a elderly male passed away after his car was swept off a submerged bridge, and a child of seven years and her father were dragged into the ocean by large waves on the the state's central shoreline.