Storm Claudia Brings More Flooding to Portugal and the Spanish territory
The Iberian nations are again recovering from widespread inundation after Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds over the past seven days.
Claudia's Origin and Path
This weather system developed from an area of low pressure that had previously driven unseasonably early cold and snowy conditions through the eastern sectors of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States during the beginning of the eleventh month.
Claudia tracked eastwards across the Atlantic Ocean over the second weekend of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Spanish and Portuguese landmass, caught in the trough of an ever more meandering jet stream.
Consequences for Spain and Portugal
The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was initially impacted, with a substantial 80 to 150 millimetres of rain pouring down along its western coastline in just a single day up to the evening of Wednesday as a sluggish front of rain crawled across western parts of the region.
Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday last week brought flooding to parts of Portugal where an elderly couple perished in the city of Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River invaded their residence as they rested.
Stormy conditions lasted through the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a campsite and a adjacent hotel in Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday last week, killing an elderly British lady and wounding 28 individuals.
Broader Impacts across Europe
This system triggered broader repercussions across Europe's western part. By siphoning heated air from the subtropical zones, the system helped temperatures in south-west France to 85.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the state's maximum ever autumn temperature.
By the following Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a frigid air system across more northern parts of Europe, forming a rainfall belt running from Ireland's west to the Russian Federation.
In the UK, this stalling band of rain produced record-breaking rain accumulations, resulting in significant waterlogging in the Welsh region.
As the storm continues to weaken in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, giving Europe its first taste of winter.
Related Incidents in California, USA
The US state of California underwent a so-called atmospheric river recently, causing heavy rain and strong winds that resulted in rapid flooding and debris flows in zones affected by forest fires earlier this year.
Over two inches of rain was recorded in the southern region of the state on Friday, with a additional two inches widely across the state on the subsequent Saturday.
In excess of 100 millimetres of rain was deposited on coastal parts of Southern CA in total, hitting 200mm overall in areas of elevated terrain.
An atmospheric river is a plume of tropical, saturated air coming from the tropics or subtropics.
Locations with fire damage including Palisades and Altadena experienced the most intense the sudden floods and earth movements, leading to evacuations.
Across California, a man in his seventies died after his car was carried away from a inundated overpass, and a seven-year-old girl and her parent were swept into the Pacific by big swells on the Central Coast.