Weather tracker: Storm Claudia brings more flooding to Portugal and Spain | Spain

Portugal and Spain are trying to recover from renewed flooding after Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds last week. The storm developed from an area of ​​low pressure that had previously caused early season cold and snowy conditions across eastern Canada and the northeastern United States into early November.

The system moved eastward across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November, slowing and stalling to the northwest of the Iberian peninsula and becoming caught in the trough of a rising or wavy jet stream. Spain’s meteorological service AEMET named the storm last Monday, ahead of the arrival of heavy rains that gradually set in over the rest of the week.

Galicia in northwestern Spain took the first blow; Along the west coast, between 80 and 150 mm of rain fell in just 24 hours by Wednesday evening, as a slow-moving rain band pushed through western parts of the Iberian peninsula. Ongoing showers and thunderstorms on Thursday caused floods in parts of Portugal, after water from the overflowing Tagus River entered the home of an elderly couple in Lisbon while they were sleeping. The stormy conditions continued over the weekend when a tornado ripped through a campsite and a nearby hotel in Albufeira in southern Portugal on Saturday, killing an 85-year-old British woman and injuring 28 people.

Claudia had wider effects in Western Europe. The system drew warm air from the subtropics, helping temperatures in southwestern France rise to 29.8C (85.6F), the country’s highest November temperature on record. On Friday, this warm, moist air mass collided with a cold air mass in more northern parts of Europe, creating a rain band stretching from western Ireland to Russia. In the UK, this steady band of rain caused rainfall totals to be very high and led to serious flooding in Wales. As Claudia continues to weaken early this week, the cold air mass will move southwards, giving Europe its first taste of winter.

California experienced an “atmospheric river” last week that brought heavy rain and strong winds, causing flash flooding and mudslides in areas affected by wildfires earlier this year. More than 50 mm of rain fell in Southern California on Friday, with a wider 50 mm falling across the state on Saturday. A total of more than 100 mm of rain fell in coastal areas of Southern California, with totals reaching 200 mm in higher elevations.

An atmospheric river is a cloud of warm, moist air originating from the tropics or subtropics. Burn scar areas, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena, experienced the worst of the flash flooding and landslides, prompting evacuations. Elsewhere in California, a 71-year-old man died after his vehicle was swept off a flooded bridge, and a seven-year-old girl and her father died after being swept into the ocean by large waves on the Central Coast.