A tornado touched down in the Northern California town of Scotts Valley near Santa Cruz Saturday afternoon, flipping cars and knocking down power lines, according to authorities.

Scotts Valley is a small town about six miles north of Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz County a short distance off of State Highway 17.  

The incident happened at around 1:40 p.m. around the 200 block Mount Hermon Drive. Scotts Valley police initially posted an alert on social media advising residents to avoid the area following a multi-vehicle accident that had multiple power lines down and completely blocked the road in all directions.

Police later posted an update saying that witnesses reported it was not an accident “but rather a possible tornado” that touched down near the Target store at 270 Mount Hermon Drive “and threw multiple cars off the road.” 

Police did not provide any specific details on injuries. 

The National Weather Service had issued an severe thunderstorm warning in the area a short time before the tornado.

A later post on X by the Bay Area office of the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado had occurred based on “video, photos, firsthand accounts, and radar signatures” 

The post noted that a NWS Survey team will further investigate the incident to provide a ranking.  

The tornado was just the latest extreme wind event connected to the powerful storm that passed through Northern California overnight. The first-ever tornado warning in San Francisco was issued by the National Weather Service early Saturday morning shortly before 6 a.m., alarming residents with a cell phone alert that woke many people up, according to reports on social media.

While that tornado did not materialize, high winds were causing impacts across the region, including a city-wide power outage in the North Bay city of Novato and a full closure of Interstate 580 in both directions at the San Joaquin and Alameda county line after a multiple-vehicle collision involving a big rig due to high winds.  

San Francisco residents were woken up by a tornado warning early Saturday morning during a powerful storm system that battered the region with heavy rain and wind.

It was the first-ever tornado warning for San Francisco, but not the first tornado, cited CBS News Bay Area meteorologist Paul Heggen.

The National Weather Service issued the warning for northern San Mateo County and parts of downtown San Francisco, just before 6 a.m. until 6:15 a.m.

According to the NWS, there was a cyclonic signature on the radar that had produced enough rotation signature to prompt the warning. 

“The radar scan at 5:52am clearly shows a “hook echo” offshore — that’s the signature we look for to identify a developing tornado. This feature was embedded within a broad area of very heavy rain, but it still stands out,” Heggen explained. 

The NWS Bay Area said the warning was over for San Francisco at 6:07 a.m. And let the tornado warning expire at 6:15 a.m.

The warning led to a flurry of social media posts from residents who were woken up by the alert on their cell phones. It was being reported as the first-ever tornado warning issued for San Francisco.

There was also a special alert issued for a possible water spout on San Francisco Bay in the area of the Bay Bridge that expired ten minutes after the tornado warning.

While the strongest part of the system has passed, isolated severe thunderstorms remain possible for parts of the Bay Area through the morning, the National Weather Service said. 

The risk of a severe storm is marginal, and the NWS said it will only last through Saturday morning.  According to PG&E, the storm conditions caused power outages for thousands of people in the Bay Area.