Storm Claudia Delivers More Inundation to the Portuguese nation and the Spanish territory
The Iberian nations are again battling the aftermath of extensive flooding in the wake of Tempest Claudia unleashed torrential downpours and powerful gusts the previous week.
Claudia's Genesis and Journey
This weather system formed from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had beforehand caused early season freezing temperatures and snowfall through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern United States during the beginning of the eleventh month.
The system tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean during the second weekend of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, caught in the trough of an progressively more wavy atmospheric river.
Impact on the Iberian Peninsula
The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with 80-150mm of rain pouring down along its western coastline in just a single day up to the evening of Wednesday as a slow-moving band of rain crawled across western parts of the Iberian peninsula.
More downpours and stormy weather on Thursday led to floods to areas in Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.
Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in Portugal's south on Saturday, claiming the life of an British woman aged 85 and harming 28 people.
Extended Consequences across the European continent
The storm produced wider effects across the western European nations. By drawing warm air from the warmer regions, the system helped temperatures in south-west France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the state's maximum ever autumn temperature.
By Friday, this tropical air mass collided with a frigid air system across more northern parts of Europe, forming a rainfall belt running from Ireland's west to Russia.
In the UK, this stalling band of rain delivered exceptionally large precipitation amounts, leading to significant waterlogging in Wales.
As this weather phenomenon loses strength at the start of the week, the cold air mass will advance southward, providing the continent its first taste of winter.
Related Incidents in the state of California
The US state of California encountered an "atmospheric river" last week, bringing torrential rain and high-velocity gusts that resulted in sudden inundations and mudslides in zones affected by blazes in the recent past.
In excess of 50 millimetres of rain was recorded in the southern region of the state on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres broadly over the state on Saturday last.
In excess of 100 millimetres of rain was deposited on coastal parts of southern California in all, reaching 200mm overall in locations at higher elevations.
This meteorological feature is a plume of warm, moist air coming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.
Burn scar areas including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena experienced the most intense the rapid inundations and landslides, prompting evacuations.
In other parts of the state, a man in his seventies died after his car was washed off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were dragged into the sea by large waves on the Central Coast.
