Storm Claudia Delivers Additional Flooding to the Portuguese nation and Spain
The Iberian nations are again battling the aftermath of widespread inundation in the wake of Storm Claudia delivered heavy rain and strong winds last week.
The Storm's Formation and Trajectory
The storm system originated from a region of depressed atmospheric pressure that had earlier ushered in early season cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of the Canadian territory and the north-eastern US at the start of November.
This storm moved eastward across the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of the second week of November before decelerating and halting to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, snared in a dip of an increasingly amplified air current.
Impact on the Iberian Peninsula
The northwestern Spanish region of Galicia was initially impacted, with three to six inches of rain falling along its western coastline in just a single day up to Wednesday night as a slow-moving band of rain pushed across the western areas of the region.
Additional rainfall and electrical storms 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.
Unsettled atmospheric states lasted through the weekend, with a twister devastating a campsite and a nearby hotel in the town of Albufeira in southern Portugal on the weekend's Saturday, killing an elderly British lady and harming 28 individuals.
Extended Consequences across the European continent
Claudia had broader repercussions across the western European nations. By siphoning heated air from the warmer regions, the system assisted in raising temperatures in south-west France to nearly 30 degrees Celsius, the country's highest recorded late autumn reading.
By the following Friday, this hot and moist atmospheric body clashed with a chilly atmospheric body across the northern areas of the continent, forming a band of rain running from western Ireland to Russia.
In the UK, this stalling band of rain delivered very high rainfall totals, resulting in major inundations in the Welsh region.
As Claudia continues to weaken in the coming days, the frigid air will push south, providing the continent its first taste of colder weather.
Simultaneous Occurrences in the state of California
California experienced a so-called atmospheric river the previous week, delivering torrential rain and high-velocity gusts that led to flash flooding and debris flows in zones impacted by blazes in the recent past.
More than 50mm of rain fell in the southern region of the state on last Friday, with a another 50 millimetres broadly over the state on Saturday last.
Over four inches of rain accumulated over coastal areas of southern California in total, attaining 200mm overall in areas of elevated terrain.
An atmospheric river is a narrow band of tropical, saturated air stemming from the tropical or subtropical regions.
Regions previously burned including the Pacific Palisades area and the town of Altadena experienced the most intense the rapid inundations and earth movements, leading to evacuations.
Elsewhere in California, a elderly male lost his life after his car was washed off a inundated overpass, and a young girl aged seven and her parent were dragged into the ocean by big swells on the the state's central shoreline.
