Tornado hits Northern California city, snow storm hits Midwest

At least four people were injured after a tornado struck Northern California on Saturday afternoon, according to local officials.

The twister overturned several cars and downed power lines in Scotts Valley, about 55 miles (89 km) south of San Francisco, police said.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the tornado was classified as an EF1, one of the weakest classifications, and that it lasted about five minutes.

Elsewhere in the US, a snowstorm struck the midwestern states of Iowa and Nebraska, brought heavy snowfall to upstate New York, and severe weather warnings were issued around Lake Tahoe, extending into the states of California and Nevada. Is.

In Nebraska, at least one person died in a crash on a snowy road near Arlington. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said a 57-year-old woman lost control of her pickup truck and collided with an oncoming vehicle.

Interstate 80, a major highway between Iowa and Nebraska, was closed because icy conditions caused vehicles to slide off the road. It has since reopened.

In upstate New York, people cleared snow from their driveways, with Orchard Park in Erie County reporting more than 33 inches (83 cm) of snow.

To the west, in Nevada, up to 3 feet (91 cm) of snowfall was predicted in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Snowfall also occurred in areas around Lake Tahoe, with some ski resorts receiving more than 1 ft (30 cm) of snowfall.

A wind gust of 112 mph (180 km/h) was recorded at the Mammoth Mountain resort south of Yosemite National Park, the NWS said.

Police said the tornado struck Scotts Valley, California, at 13:39 local time (21:39 GMT) on Saturday.

The BBC’s US affiliate the local fire service said four people were injured and two of them were taken to hospital. CBS News Informed.

Wind speeds are expected to reach nearly 90 mph (145 km/h), the NWS said.

The weather agency also said the twister was about 30 yards (27 m) wide and lasted for a quarter mile before subsiding.

Earlier on Saturday, a brief tornado warning was issued for residents of Downtown San Francisco and San Mateo County just before 06:00 local time (14:00 GMT).

The NWS said residents were warned to take shelter as winds gusted up to 60 mph (96 km/h) in the area.

NWS meteorologist Roger Glass told the AP news agency that a tornado last hit the city in 2005, although that one came without any obvious radar signature, so no warning was issued in that case.

As of Sunday, more than 40,000 customers along the California coast were still without power, with Monterey County most affected, According to the poweroutage website.

San Francisco’s tornado alert comes just a week after the city Saw tsunami warning for the first time.

Brief advisories were issued for Northern California and Southern Oregon after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the state’s northern coast.

It was later cancelled, and no injuries were reported.