🔗 Share this article

Once again, Portugal and Spain find themselves battling the aftermath of widespread inundation after Storm Claudia unleashed torrential downpours and strong winds over the past seven days.

The Storm's Genesis and Journey

The storm system formed from an area of low pressure that had earlier ushered in unseasonably early cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern US in early November.

Claudia moved eastward across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before losing momentum and stopping to the northwestern area of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified jet stream.

Effects in Spain and Portugal

The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was the first affected, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain coming down along its Atlantic coast in just a single day up to Wednesday evening as a sluggish front of rain drifted across the western areas of the region.

Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday last week brought flooding to parts of Portugal where a senior pair lost their lives in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River invaded their residence as they slept.

Unsettled atmospheric states lasted through the weekend, with a violent whirlwind tearing through a outdoor lodging area and a adjacent hotel in the town of Albufeira in Portugal's south on Saturday, fatally injuring an British woman aged 85 and wounding 28 individuals.

Extended Consequences across Europe

The storm produced broader repercussions across the western European nations. By siphoning heated air from the subtropical zones, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in France's south-west to 29.8C (85.6F), the nation's all-time high late autumn reading.

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

In the UK, this stalling band of rain produced record-breaking rain accumulations, leading to significant waterlogging in the principality of Wales.

As the storm progressively weakens at the start of the week, the cold air mass will advance southward, providing the continent its initial glimpse of the winter season.

Parallel Events in the state of California

The US state of California encountered an "atmospheric river" the previous week, delivering heavy rain and powerful winds that provoked flash flooding and landslides in zones impacted by wildfires earlier this year.

In excess of 50 millimetres of rain was recorded in the southern region of the state on last Friday, with a further 50mm widely across the state on Saturday last.

In excess of 100 millimetres of rain fell over shoreline regions of southern California in all, reaching eight inches in total in locations at higher elevations.

Such a weather system is a concentrated stream of tropical, saturated air stemming from the equatorial or near-equatorial zones.

Burn scar areas including Pacific Palisades and the town of Altadena experienced the most severe the sudden floods and earth movements, prompting evacuations.

In other parts of the state, a 71-year-old man passed away after his vehicle was washed off a inundated overpass, and a young girl aged seven and her dad were dragged into the ocean by large waves on the Central Coast.