🔗 Share this article

The Iberian nations are again recovering from extensive inundation in the wake of Tempest Claudia unleashed heavy rain and strong winds the previous week.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event developed from a low-pressure zone that had previously driven early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through the eastern sectors of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States in early November.

Claudia journeyed east across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified jet stream.

Consequences for Spain and Portugal

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was the first affected, with 80-150mm of rain coming down along its west coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday night as a leisurely moving system of rain crawled across the western sectors of the region.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday led to floods to areas in Portugal where an elderly couple perished in the capital Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they slept.

Tempestuous weather persisted into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in the south in southern Portugal on Saturday last week, killing an 85-year-old British woman and wounding 28 people.

Wider Effects across Europe

This system triggered more extensive impacts across Europe's western part. By drawing warm air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in southwestern France to 29.8C (85.6F), the country's highest recorded autumn temperature.

By Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body clashed with a chilly atmospheric body across more northern parts of Europe, forming a precipitation zone stretching from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.

In the United Kingdom, this stationary front of rain produced record-breaking rain accumulations, causing severe flooding in the Welsh region.

As this weather phenomenon loses strength early this week, the cold air mass will move towards the south, giving Europe its initial glimpse of winter.

Related Incidents in California

The Golden State experienced a plume of tropical moisture recently, bringing heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that led to sudden inundations and landslides in regions scarred by wildfires in the recent past.

More than 50mm of rain fell 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 fell over coastal parts of Southern CA in aggregate, attaining 200mm overall in areas of elevated terrain.

Such a weather system is a plume of hot, humid air originating from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Locations with fire damage including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena endured the most intense the rapid inundations and mudslides, forcing residents to flee.

Across California, a 71-year-old man died after his vehicle was carried away from a submerged bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her father were pulled into the ocean by powerful waves on the the state's central shoreline.