Tornado hits northern California town as ice storm chills Midwest

At least four people were injured when a tornado struck Scotts Valley in northern California on Saturday afternoon, according to local authorities.

The tornado, classified as an EF1 — one of the weakest categories — lasted around five minutes, flipping cars and bringing down power lines in the town, located about 55 miles (89 km) south of San Francisco.

Elsewhere in the United States, an ice storm swept across Iowa and Nebraska, heavy snowfall blanketed upstate New York, and severe weather warnings were issued near Lake Tahoe, which lies on the border of California and Nevada.

In Nebraska, a 57-year-old woman lost her life after losing control of her pickup truck on an icy road near Arlington. The Washington County Sheriff's Office confirmed the vehicle collided with oncoming traffic. Interstate 80, a major highway connecting Iowa and Nebraska, was temporarily shut down as icy conditions caused multiple accidents, but it has since reopened.

In upstate New York, snowfall exceeded 33 inches (83 cm) in areas like Orchard Park in Erie County, with residents working to clear their driveways.

Out west, the Sierra Nevada mountains were expected to see up to 3 feet (91 cm) of snow, with ski resorts near Lake Tahoe already reporting more than a foot (30 cm). At Mammoth Mountain resort, south of Yosemite National Park, wind gusts reached 112 mph (180 km/h), according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

In Scotts Valley, the tornado touched down at 1:39 PM local time (9:39 PM GMT) on Saturday. Local fire services reported that four people were injured, with two taken to the hospital, as per CBS News. Wind speeds peaked at approximately 90 mph (145 km/h), and the tornado spanned a width of 30 yards (27 meters) and traveled about a quarter-mile before dissipating.

Earlier on Saturday, a brief tornado warning was issued for parts of downtown San Francisco and San Mateo County just before 6:00 AM local time (2:00 PM GMT). Winds of up to 60 mph (96 km/h) swept through the area, prompting residents to take shelter, the NWS said.

San Francisco had not seen a tornado since 2005, and that one struck without any clear radar signature, meaning no warning was issued, according to NWS meteorologist Roger Glass.

As of Sunday, more than 40,000 customers remained without power along California's coast, with Monterey County being the hardest hit, according to the PowerOutage website.

This string of severe weather came just a week after San Francisco received its first-ever tsunami warning, issued following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake off the state’s northern coast. That advisory was later rescinded, and no injuries were reported.