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The Iberian nations are again recovering from significant flooding following Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and powerful gusts last week.

Claudia's Formation and Trajectory

This meteorological event formed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had previously driven early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through the eastern regions of Canada and the American north-east in early November.

The system 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 Iberian region, caught in the trough of an progressively more wavy jet stream.

Effects in Spain and Portugal

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was hit first, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its west coast in just a single day up to Wednesday evening as a sluggish front of rain drifted across the western areas of the region.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday caused inundations to Portuguese localities where a senior pair perished in the city of 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 devastating a outdoor lodging area and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in the south in Portugal's south on the weekend's Saturday, claiming the life of an British woman aged 85 and harming 28 people.

Broader Impacts across Europe

The storm produced more extensive impacts across western Europe. By siphoning heated air from the subtropics, the system assisted in raising temperatures in France's south-west to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the nation's all-time high November temperature.

By the following Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a frigid air system across the northern areas of the continent, generating a rainfall belt extending from Ireland's west to Russia.

In the Britain, this stalling band of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, leading to severe flooding in Wales.

As Claudia loses strength at the start of the week, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, giving Europe its initial glimpse of winter.

Parallel Events in California, USA

The US state of California underwent an "atmospheric river" last week, causing torrential rain and strong winds that provoked flash flooding and debris flows in regions scarred by blazes earlier this year.

More than 50mm of rain fell in California's southern part on Friday, with a additional two inches widely across the state on Saturday.

Over four inches of rain accumulated over coastal parts of the state's south in total, attaining eight inches in total in spots on high ground.

This meteorological feature is a plume of tropical, saturated air originating from the tropics or subtropics.

Locations with fire damage including Pacific Palisades and Altadena region endured the most severe the flash flooding and mudslides, leading to evacuations.

Across California, a man in his seventies passed away after his automobile was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a child of seven years and her dad were dragged into the sea by large waves on the Central Coast.