🔗 Share this article

Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves dealing with the consequences of extensive inundation after Storm Claudia delivered torrential downpours and powerful gusts last week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This weather system developed from an area of low pressure that had earlier driven unseasonably early freezing temperatures and snowfall through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States in early November.

Claudia moved eastward across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before slowing and stalling to the northwestern area of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, caught in the trough of an ever more meandering jet stream.

Consequences for Spain and Portugal

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with three to six inches of rain falling along its western coastline in just a single day up to Wednesday evening as a leisurely moving system of rain drifted across the western areas of the region.

Further showers and thunderstorms on the following Thursday caused inundations to Portuguese localities where an elderly couple died in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River invaded their residence as they slept.

Tempestuous weather lasted through the weekend, with a violent whirlwind tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in the south in the Algarve region on Saturday, claiming the life of an elderly British lady and injuring two dozen and eight persons.

Extended Consequences across the European continent

The storm produced wider effects across western Europe. By siphoning heated air from the subtropical zones, the system helped temperatures in south-west France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the country's highest recorded late autumn reading.

By Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body clashed with a cold air mass across the northern regions of Europe, creating a band of rain stretching from western Ireland to Russia.

In the UK, this stationary front of rain brought record-breaking rain accumulations, resulting in significant waterlogging in Wales.

As the storm loses strength at the start of the week, the frigid air will push south, providing the continent its initial glimpse of colder weather.

Parallel Events in the state of California

The US state of California underwent a plume of tropical moisture the previous week, causing torrential rain and high-velocity gusts that provoked flash flooding and debris flows in zones scarred by blazes previously in the year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain poured down in the southern region of the state on the week's end, with a another 50 millimetres across extensive areas of California on Saturday.

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain was deposited on coastal parts of the state's south in total, hitting 200mm overall in spots on high ground.

An atmospheric river is a concentrated stream of warm, moist air originating from the tropics or subtropics.

Regions previously burned including Pacific Palisades and Altadena region experienced the most severe the sudden floods and earth movements, forcing residents to flee.

Across California, a elderly male passed away after his car was swept off a flooded bridge, and a young girl aged seven and her parent were pulled into the sea by large waves on the California's Central Coast.