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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves battling the aftermath of widespread flooding following Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and powerful gusts last week.

The Storm's Formation and Trajectory

The storm system originated from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had previously ushered in unseasonably early chilly and snowy weather through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US in early November.

Claudia moved eastward across the Atlantic over the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, trapped within a trough of an progressively more wavy air current.

Effects in Iberia

Galicia in north-west Spain 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 slow-moving band of rain crawled across western parts of the Iberian peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on the following Thursday led to floods to parts of Portugal where an older couple died in the capital Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they slept.

Unsettled atmospheric states lasted through the weekend, with a violent whirlwind ripping through a camping ground and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in the Algarve region on the weekend's Saturday, claiming the life of an 85-year-old British woman and harming two dozen and eight persons.

Extended Consequences across Europe

This system triggered more extensive impacts across the western European nations. By drawing warm air from the subtropics, the system assisted in raising temperatures in south-west France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the state's maximum ever November temperature.

By the following Friday, this warm and humid air mass collided with a frigid air system across more northern parts of the continent, generating a band of rain stretching from western Ireland to Russia.

In the UK, this halting system of rain delivered record-breaking rain accumulations, resulting in major inundations in Wales.

As the storm loses strength at the start of the week, the frigid air will advance southward, giving Europe its premier experience of the winter season.

Simultaneous Occurrences in California, USA

California underwent an "atmospheric river" recently, delivering intense precipitation and strong winds that led to sudden inundations and landslides in areas impacted by forest fires earlier this year.

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

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

An atmospheric river is a concentrated stream of warm, moist air coming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Burn scar areas including Palisades and Altadena region endured the worst of the rapid inundations and landslides, forcing residents to flee.

Across California, a man in his seventies lost his life after his automobile was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her father were dragged into the sea by powerful waves on the the state's central shoreline.