🔗 Share this article

The Iberian nations are again battling the aftermath of extensive flooding following Storm Claudia delivered heavy rain and powerful gusts over the past seven days.

Claudia's Formation and Trajectory

This meteorological event formed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had beforehand caused unseasonably early freezing temperatures and snowfall through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern United States at the start of November.

The system journeyed east across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, snared in a dip of an increasingly amplified jet stream.

Consequences for the Iberian Peninsula

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with three to six inches of rain pouring down along its western coastline in just a single day up to Wednesday evening as a slow-moving band of rain drifted across the western sectors of the peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday caused inundations to areas in Portugal where an older couple perished in the capital Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus entered their home as they rested.

Unsettled atmospheric states continued into the weekend, with a violent whirlwind ripping through a camping ground and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in the south in southern Portugal on the weekend's Saturday, claiming the life of an 85-year-old British woman and injuring 28 people.

Wider Effects across Europe

The storm produced wider effects across western Europe. By pulling tropical air from the warmer regions, the system assisted in raising temperatures in southwestern France to 29.8C (85.6F), the state's maximum ever late autumn reading.

By Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body met a frigid air system across the northern regions of Europe, forming a rainfall belt running from western Ireland to Russia.

In the Britain, this stationary front of rain delivered very high rainfall totals, causing major inundations in the principality of Wales.

As this weather phenomenon progressively weakens at the start of the week, the cold air mass will push south, giving Europe its first taste of colder weather.

Parallel Events in California, USA

California encountered a plume of tropical moisture last week, causing heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that led to rapid flooding and mudslides in areas scarred by forest fires in the recent past.

Over two inches of rain was recorded in southern California on last Friday, with a additional two inches across extensive areas of California on Saturday last.

Over four inches of rain fell over shoreline regions of the state's south in all, hitting eight inches in total in areas of elevated terrain.

An atmospheric river is a plume of hot, humid air stemming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Locations with fire damage including Pacific Palisades and the town of Altadena experienced the worst of the sudden floods and landslides, leading to evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a 71-year-old man passed away after his vehicle was washed off a flooded bridge, and a child of seven years and her dad were pulled into the Pacific by powerful waves on the California's Central Coast.