Tempest Claudia Delivers More Flooding to Portugal and the Spanish territory
The Iberian nations are again recovering from widespread inundation in the wake of Storm Claudia unleashed heavy rain and strong winds over the past seven days.
The Storm's Genesis and Journey
This meteorological event originated from an area of low pressure that had beforehand ushered in early season chilly and snowy weather through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern United States at the start of November.
Claudia journeyed east across the Atlantic in the middle of the second week of November before decelerating and halting to the northwestern area of the Iberian region, caught in the trough of an progressively more wavy jet stream.
Effects in the Iberian Peninsula
The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was hit first, with 80-150mm of rain pouring down along its Atlantic coast in just one full day up to the evening of Wednesday as a slow-moving band of rain pushed across western parts of the peninsula.
Additional rainfall and electrical storms on Thursday last week led to floods to areas in Portugal where a senior pair died in the city of Lisbon after rising waters from the bursting Tagus River flooded their dwelling as they slept.
Unsettled atmospheric states lasted through the weekend, with a twister tearing through a campsite and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in the Algarve region on Saturday, claiming the life of an 85-year-old British woman and wounding 28 people.
Wider Effects across Europe
The storm produced wider effects across western Europe. By pulling tropical air from the warmer regions, the system contributed to thermometers climbing in southwestern France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the nation's all-time high autumn temperature.
By the following Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with a cold air mass across more northern parts of the continent, creating a rainfall belt running from the west of Ireland to Russia.
In the UK, this halting system of rain delivered very high rainfall totals, leading to major inundations in Wales.
As Claudia progressively weakens in the coming days, the chilly atmospheric system will move towards the south, providing the continent its premier experience of the winter season.
Related Incidents in California
California experienced an "atmospheric river" recently, causing torrential rain and strong winds that provoked rapid flooding and landslides in zones affected by wildfires in the recent past.
More than 50mm of rain poured down in southern California on Friday, with a another 50 millimetres widely across the state on the subsequent Saturday.
Over four inches of rain fell over coastal areas of the state's south in aggregate, reaching 200mm overall in areas of elevated terrain.
An atmospheric river is a plume of warm, moist air stemming from the tropics or subtropics.
Locations with fire damage including the Pacific Palisades area and Altadena region suffered the worst of the rapid inundations and mudslides, leading to evacuations.
Across California, a man in his seventies lost his life after his vehicle was carried away from a flooded bridge, and a child of seven years and her dad were dragged into the ocean by big swells on the California's Central Coast.
