Storm Claudia Brings More Flooding to Portugal and Spain

The Iberian nations are again recovering from significant flooding after Storm Claudia delivered torrential downpours and powerful gusts the previous week.

Claudia's Genesis and Journey

This meteorological event originated from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had earlier driven early season cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern United States at the start of November.

The system moved eastward across the Atlantic Ocean over the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the northwestern area of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, trapped within a trough of an increasingly amplified jet stream.

Consequences for Iberia

Spain's Galicia area in the northwest was hit first, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday evening as a slow-moving band of rain pushed across the western sectors of the Iberian peninsula.

Further showers and thunderstorms on the following Thursday led to floods to Portuguese localities where an elderly couple died in the capital Lisbon after floodwaters from the swollen Tagus invaded their residence as they slept.

Stormy conditions lasted through the weekend, with a violent whirlwind devastating a campsite and a close-by inn in Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday, claiming the life of an British woman aged 85 and wounding 28 individuals.

Extended Consequences across Europe

Claudia had more extensive impacts across Europe's western part. By siphoning heated air from the warmer regions, the system assisted in raising temperatures in southwestern France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the country's highest recorded late autumn reading.

By last Friday, this tropical air mass collided with a frigid air system across the northern areas of Europe, creating a rainfall belt stretching from western Ireland to the Russian Federation.

In the United Kingdom, this stalling band of rain brought exceptionally large precipitation amounts, leading to severe flooding in Wales.

As the storm continues to weaken in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will push south, providing the continent its first taste of colder weather.

Related Incidents in California

California encountered a plume of tropical moisture last week, causing intense precipitation and high-velocity gusts that provoked flash flooding and mudslides in areas impacted by wildfires previously in the year.

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

More than 100mm of rain was deposited on coastal parts of southern California in total, reaching eight inches in total in locations at higher elevations.

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

Burn scar areas including Pacific Palisades and Altadena suffered the most severe the rapid inundations and landslides, forcing residents to flee.

Elsewhere in California, a elderly male died after his car was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were swept into the Pacific by powerful waves on the California's Central Coast.