A rare tornado touched down in northern California on Saturday afternoon, injuring at least four people, flipping vehicles, and downing power lines in Scotts Valley, a town located 55 miles south of San Francisco. The National Weather Service (NWS) classified the tornado as an EF1, a weaker category, with wind speeds reaching 90 mph (145 km/h). The twister, which struck at 1:39 p.m. local time, measured about 30 yards wide and traveled a quarter of a mile before dissipating. Authorities reported at least four injuries, with two individuals requiring hospitalization, according to local fire services. Roads were closed overnight to allow for debris clearance and repair work. Earlier in the day, San Francisco residents received an unprecedented tornado warning just before 6 a.m. local time. The alert, issued for parts of downtown San Francisco and northern San Mateo County, advised more than one million people to "take shelter now." The warning, prompted by severe thunderstorms, was lifted minutes later after the storm moved out of the city center. This marked the first tornado warning for San Francisco, although a tornado had struck the city in 2005 without a radar-detected signature, NWS officials said. The powerful storm system that triggered the tornado left a trail of damage across northern and central California. Trees were toppled, and widespread power outages affected over 50,000 customers as of Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us. Residents along the northern California coast were also cautioned to avoid the seaside, with a coastal flood advisory in effect until Monday. The tornado warning comes just a week after San Francisco experienced its first-ever tsunami advisory, following a magnitude 7.0 earthquake off the state's northern coast. That advisory was later rescinded with no injuries reported. — BBC
