An ice storm hit Iowa and eastern Nebraska over the weekend, closing a major highway as cars and trucks slid off the road. At least one person has been killed in a crash caused by icy roads in Nebraska.
The National Weather Service in Des Moines issued a dense fog advisory Saturday that was expected to remain in effect until 11 a.m. Sunday. Thick fog spread across much of the state, reducing visibility to 1/4 mile or less in some places, the weather service said. The ice had turned mostly to freezing rain Saturday evening, but roads in eastern Iowa were still at least partially covered with ice or snow, forecasters said.
Authorities said a person died while driving on icy roads in eastern Nebraska. The Washington County Sheriff’s Office says a 57-year-old woman was killed in a crash after she lost control of her pickup truck on Highway 30 near Arlington and struck an oncoming truck. reverse. The other driver was slightly injured in the accident. Washington County is located near Nebraska’s eastern border with Iowa, near Omaha.
Roads in that area were slippery enough Saturday to play ice hockey in the street, as one person was seen doing in a social media video that the National Weather Service in Omaha reposted. A dense fog advisory was also in effect for the area until 11 a.m. CT Sunday.
“Dense fog continues to develop in our area and is expected to last through tomorrow morning,” the National Weather Service in Omaha wrote in an advisory Saturday evening. “With visibilities sometimes less than a quarter of a mile and slippery areas on some roads, use caution and slow down if you are traveling!”
Forecasters have warned that untreated roads could refreeze overnight as temperatures drop.
Many events were canceled across the region when the storm hit Friday evening, and businesses announced plans to open Saturday evening, with officials urging people to stay home if possible. However, temperatures rose enough in the afternoon to melt the ice in most areas.
“Fortunately, some warmer air is circulating behind this to make this temporary,” said Dave Cousins, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Davenport, Iowa.
Elsewhere, a storm and wind gusts of up to 60 mph triggered the first tornado warning in San Francisco and caused damage. Parts of neighboring San Mateo County were also included in the warning, which was sent at 5:51 a.m. to about a million people and was lifted about 20 minutes later.
Later Saturday, a a tornado touched down near a shopping center in Scotts Valley, near the town of Santa Cruz, about 70 miles south of San Francisco, overturning cars and toppling trees and utility poles, the National Weather Service said.
Livermore Police Department via AP
“Based on video, photos, first-hand accounts and radar signatures, a tornado occurred (at) 1:40 p.m. PT,” the service said, adding that a team would investigate and provide a classification.
Images uploaded to social media showed at least three vehicles on their hoods or sides, with their windshields smashed and trees and power lines on the ground.
Several people were injured and taken to the hospital, Scotts Valley police said.
“The tornado caused significant damage to several areas, including overturning several vehicles in and around the Mt. Hermon Drive shopping area,” the department said in a statement. He asked people to avoid the area.
One of the injured people was a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, KSBW-TV reported.
In San Francisco, some trees fell on cars and streets and damaged roofs. The city hasn’t experienced a tornado since 2005, according to the weather service. The damage was being assessed to determine if the city had indeed been hit by a tornado.
“It was the first ever warning of a possible tornado in San Francisco. I guess there wasn’t a clear signature on the radar for a warning in 2005,” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist with the San Francisco Weather Service. Monterey, California. He said he wasn’t there in 2005.
The fast-moving storm prompted residents to seek shelter, but few people own basements in the area.
“The most important thing we tell people in the city is to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible,” said meteorologist Dalton Behringer.
In upstate New York, people were digging after heavy snowfall. More than 33 inches were reported near Orchard Park, where residents are used to dealing with lake-effect snow this time of year.
And in Nevada, up to 3 feet of snow was forecast for Sierra Nevada peaks. More than a foot (30 cm) fell at some Lake Tahoe ski resorts and a wind gust of 112 mph was recorded at Mammoth Mountain resort south of Yosemite National Park, according to the Reno office from the National Weather Service.
A winter storm warning was set to expire at 10 p.m. PT Saturday, but an avalanche warning remained in effect the following night for elevations above 8,000 feet around Tahoe.
Interstate 80 was closed for an 80-mile stretch from Applegate, Calif., to the Nevada line just west of Reno, where rain was falling and a winter weather advisory was in effect throughout the long afternoon. The California Highway Patrol reopened the road in the afternoon to passenger vehicles equipped with chains or four-wheel drive and snow tires, although it remained closed to tractor-trailer trucks.
In western Washington state, tens of thousands of people lost power Saturday, local media reported, due to a system that brought rain and gusty winds.
