A tornado near a shopping center in central California lifted cars, uprooted trees, and sent several people to the hospital. In San Francisco, authorities issued the city’s first tornado warning in history.
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The bad weather affected several areas of the United States over the weekend, with dangerous conditions that included heavy snowfall in northern New York state, a significant ice storm in the northern central states of the country, and weather warnings around Lake Tahoe.
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The ice storm that began on Friday night created dangerous driving conditions in Iowa and eastern Nebraska from Friday to Saturday and caused temporary closures of Interstate 80 after numerous cars and trucks went off the road. In northern New York, more than 84 centimeters (33 inches) of snow were reported near Orchard Park, where lake-effect snowstorms are common.
A tornado touched down on Saturday near a shopping center in Scotts Valley, California, about 70 miles south of San Francisco, around 1:40 in the afternoon. The twister overturned cars and knocked down trees and utility poles, said the National Weather Service. Several people were injured and taken to hospitals, according to the Scotts Valley Police.
Some trees fell on cars and streets and damaged roofs in San Francisco. The damage was due to straight-line winds with a speed of 130 km/h (80 mph), not a tornado, meteorologist Dalton Behringer said on Sunday.
Roger Gass, from the weather service in Monterey, California, said that the tornado warning in San Francisco was the first for the city, and pointed out that before the previous tornado, recorded almost 20 years ago, no warning was issued.
"I suppose that in 2005 there wasn't a clear signature on the radar to issue a warning," said Gass, who was not in the area at that time.
The fast storm prompted warnings to the population to seek shelter, but few people have basements in the area.
In some ski resorts in Lake Tahoe, large amounts of snow fell, and at the Mammoth Mountain resort, south of Yosemite National Park, a wind gust of 181 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour) was recorded according to the meteorological service office in Reno, Nevada. Up to 91 centimeters (3 feet) of snow were expected for the Sierra Nevada mountain peaks.
The Tahoe Live music festival at Palisades Tahoe ski resort in California took place on Saturday as planned despite a snowstorm. Lil Wayne and Diplo were scheduled to perform on Sunday, according to the festival's website. The resort reported receiving 1 meter (3.5 feet) of snow since Friday. An avalanche warning was in effect for the area at least until Monday morning.
On Saturday, a 130-kilometer (80-mile) stretch of Interstate 80 was closed from Applegate, California, to the Nevada state line just west of Reno. The California Highway Patrol later reopened the road to passenger vehicles with chains or four-wheel drive and snow tires.
The bad weather in the central north of the country left at least one person dead. The Washington County police in Nebraska said that a 57-year-old woman died after losing control of her truck on the road and crashing into a truck coming in the opposite direction. The other driver suffered minor injuries.
The businesses in the area announced that they planned to open on Saturday afternoon as temperatures increased enough to melt the ice in most places.
"Fortunately, warmer air is coming so that this is only temporary," said Dave Cousins from the National Weather Service office in Davenport, Iowa.
Tens of thousands of people in western Washington state were left without power on Saturday as the system brought rain and gusts of wind, local media reported.