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Portugal and Spain are once more recovering from widespread inundation in the wake of Tempest Claudia delivered heavy rain and strong winds the previous week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This weather system developed from a low-pressure zone that had previously ushered in early season chilly and snowy weather through eastern parts of Canada and the American north-east in early November.

Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November before decelerating and halting to the northwestern area of the Iberian peninsula, trapped within a trough of an ever more meandering jet stream.

Effects in the Iberian Peninsula

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with three to six inches of rain coming down along its western coastline in just a single day up to the evening of Wednesday as a sluggish front of rain drifted across the western areas of the Iberian peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday led to floods to Portuguese localities where a senior pair perished in the city of Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.

Unsettled atmospheric states persisted into the weekend, with a twister ripping through a campsite and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in the south in Portugal's south on the weekend's Saturday, claiming the life of an elderly British lady and harming two dozen and eight persons.

Wider Effects across Europe

The storm produced broader repercussions across Europe's western part. By drawing warm air from the warmer regions, the system helped temperatures in south-west France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the nation's all-time high autumn temperature.

By the following Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body collided with a frigid air system across the northern regions of Europe, creating a precipitation zone running from western Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the Britain, this stationary front of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, resulting in major inundations in the Welsh region.

As Claudia continues to weaken early this week, the frigid air will push south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Parallel Events in the state of California

California experienced a so-called atmospheric river last week, causing intense precipitation and strong winds that resulted in flash flooding and landslides in zones scarred by forest fires previously in the year.

More than 50mm of rain poured down in southern California on last Friday, with a further 50mm across extensive areas of California on the subsequent Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain accumulated over coastal areas of Southern CA in total, attaining a full 200 millimetres in locations at higher elevations.

Such a weather system is a concentrated stream of warm, moist air originating from the tropics or subtropics.

Locations with fire damage including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena experienced the worst of the rapid inundations and mudslides, prompting evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a elderly male died after his car was washed off a inundated overpass, and a child of seven years and her parent were swept into the sea by powerful waves on the the state's central shoreline.