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

Portugal and Spain are again recovering from flooding after Storm Claudia brought heavy rain and strong winds last week. The storm developed from an area of low pressure that had earlier driven early season cold and snowy conditions through eastern parts of Canada and the north-eastern US through early November.

The system tracked eastwards across the Atlantic during the second weekend of November before slowing and stalling to the north-west of the Iberian peninsula, caught in the trough of an increasingly amplified, or wavy, jet stream. Spain’s meteorological service AEMET named the storm last Monday before the arrival of several bouts of heavy rainfall, which slowly pushed through during the rest of the week.

Galicia in north-west Spain was hit first, with 80 to 150mm of rain falling along its west coast in just 24 hours up to Wednesday evening as a slow-moving band of rain pushed across western parts of the Iberian peninsula. Further showers and thunderstorms on Thursday brought flooding to parts of Portugal where an elderly couple died in Lisbon after water from the overflowing Tagus River entered their home as they slept. Stormy conditions persisted into the weekend, with a tornado tearing through a campsite and a nearby hotel in Albufeira, southern Portugal, on Saturday, killing an 85-year-old British woman and injuring 28 people.

Claudia had wider effects across western Europe. By drawing warm air from the subtropics, the system helped temperatures in south-west France climb to 29.8C (85.6F), the country’s highest recorded November temperature. By Friday, this warm and humid air mass clashed with cold air mass across more northern parts of Europe, forming a band of rain stretching from western Ireland to Russia. In the UK, this stalling band of rain brought very high rainfall totals, resulting in severe flooding in Wales. As Claudia continues to weaken early this week, the cold air mass will push south, giving Europe its first taste of winter.

California experienced an “atmospheric river” last week, bringing heavy rain and strong winds that led to flash flooding and mudslides in areas affected by wildfires earlier this year. More than 50mm of rain fell in southern California on Friday, with a further 50mm widely across the state on Saturday. More than 100mm of rain fell over coastal parts of southern California in total, reaching 200mm overall in spots on high ground.

Cars drive through flood water in Oakland, California, on Thursday. Photograph: Jessica Christian/AP

An atmospheric river is a plume 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 mudslides, 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.