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Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves dealing with the consequences of extensive flooding after Storm Claudia unleashed heavy rain and strong winds the previous week.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event formed from an area of low pressure that had beforehand ushered in unseasonably early freezing temperatures and snowfall through the eastern regions of Canada and the north-eastern US in early November.

This storm 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 Spanish and Portuguese landmass, snared in a dip of an progressively more wavy atmospheric river.

Consequences for the Iberian Peninsula

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was hit first, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain falling along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday evening as a leisurely moving system of rain drifted across the western sectors of the peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday last week caused inundations to areas in Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in the city of Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River entered their home as they were asleep.

Tempestuous weather persisted into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind ripping through a outdoor lodging area and a nearby hotel in the town of Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday, claiming the life of an British woman aged 85 and injuring two dozen and eight persons.

Broader Impacts across Europe

Claudia had wider effects across Europe's western part. By drawing warm air from the warmer regions, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in south-west France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the nation's all-time high autumn temperature.

By Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body met a cold air mass across the northern regions of the continent, creating a rainfall belt stretching from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the UK, this stationary front of rain delivered very high rainfall totals, resulting in major inundations in Wales.

As the storm loses strength in the coming days, the frigid air will advance southward, delivering to Europe its premier experience of colder weather.

Parallel Events in California

California experienced a so-called atmospheric river recently, delivering heavy rain and strong winds that provoked sudden inundations and debris flows in regions affected by blazes in the recent past.

More than 50mm of rain poured down in California's southern part on Friday, with a further 50mm broadly over the state on Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on shoreline regions of southern California in total, hitting eight inches in total in spots on high ground.

Such a weather system is a concentrated stream of tropical, saturated air coming from the tropical or subtropical regions.

Locations with fire damage including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena suffered the most severe the flash flooding and earth movements, prompting evacuations.

Across California, a man in his seventies lost his life after his car was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her dad were swept into the ocean by big swells on the California's Central Coast.