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The Iberian nations are again battling the aftermath of significant flooding following Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and powerful gusts last week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event formed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had previously driven early season cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States in early November.

The system moved eastward across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before losing momentum and stopping to the north-west of the Iberian region, caught in the trough of an ever more meandering atmospheric river.

Impact on 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 west coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday night as a slow-moving band of rain pushed across the western areas of the peninsula.

Additional rainfall and electrical storms on the following Thursday caused inundations to Portuguese localities where a senior pair lost their lives in the city of Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River invaded their residence as they were asleep.

Tempestuous weather continued into the weekend, with a tornado ripping through a campsite and a adjacent hotel in the town of Albufeira in southern Portugal on the weekend's Saturday, fatally injuring an elderly British lady and wounding two dozen and eight persons.

Extended Consequences across the European continent

Claudia had wider effects across the western European nations. By drawing warm air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in south-west France to 29.8C (85.6F), the state's maximum ever November temperature.

By last Friday, this warm and humid air mass met a frigid air system across more northern parts of Europe, creating a precipitation zone stretching from the west of Ireland to Russia.

In the UK, this stationary front of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, causing significant waterlogging in the Welsh region.

As Claudia progressively weakens early this week, the frigid air will push south, delivering to Europe its premier experience of winter.

Parallel Events in California

The Golden State underwent a plume of tropical moisture recently, delivering heavy rain and high-velocity gusts that provoked flash flooding and debris flows in regions scarred by forest fires in the recent past.

Over two inches of rain fell in southern California on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres widely across the state on the subsequent Saturday.

More than 100mm of rain fell over coastal parts of southern California in total, reaching a full 200 millimetres in spots on high ground.

This meteorological feature is a concentrated stream of warm, moist air coming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Burn scar areas including Pacific Palisades and the town of Altadena experienced the most intense the sudden floods and landslides, leading to evacuations.

Elsewhere in California, a elderly male died after his vehicle was carried away from a flooded bridge, and a child of seven years and her dad were swept into the Pacific by large waves on the the state's central shoreline.