Multiple tornadoes struck several Northeast states on Saturday, including one in Pawcatuck and Westerly, in an unprecedented November outbreak, snapping trees and leaving behind pockets of structural damage to homes and businesses.

The mini-swarm of tornadoes occurred as an intense, tightly wound impulse swept across the region, drawing energy from near record-warm Atlantic Ocean waters. A strong cold front accompanying the disturbance incited a line of powerful thunderstorms, some of which began to rotate as they slid through Long Island and into southern New England.

The National Weather Service confirmed Sunday night that an EF-1 tornado, with estimated peak winds of 90 mph,  touched down on Robinson Street in Pawcatuck at 4:54 p.m. Saturday.

"Several hardwood trees were uprooted or snapped about half way up the trunk. A gutter was ripped off of one home while shutters were ripped off of another," the weather service said on its website.

"Several trampolines were lifted, with one becoming stuck on a powerline approximately 20 feet in the air. On Robinson Street (at) Race Street, a metal shed was lifted and flipped before being crushed by a large maple branch, with an approximate diameter of 15 inches. Several street signs were also snapped at their base."

The tornado then traveled northeast into Westerly, crossing Route 78 onto Center Street, "where approximately 20 large, healthy hardwood trees were  uprooted. A wood outbuilding was also flipped onto its side. The  tornado then crossed onto Hillview Drive before lifting at approximately 5:00 pm EST."

No injuries or deaths were associated with the tornado, the weather service said.

"The basis for the EF-1 rating was the metal shed that was flipped prior to being crushed, as well as the shearing of gutters and shutters off of homes. The maximum estimated wind associated with this tornado was 90 mph," the weather service said.

Later Sunday night, the weather service confirmed another tornado that landed in Plainfield at 4:48 p.m. Saturday and moved into Foster, R.I., before lifting at 5:02. That tornado had estimated peak winds of 80 mph, traveled 6.1 miles and also caused no damage or injuries.

Two other tornadoes were also confirmed, in Branford and Cheshire, making four total in Connecticut on Saturday.

In Cheshire, a trampoline was blown into power lines, while snapped trees damaged some property and cut electricity to thousands. The Weather Service was also surveying the damage in this area on Sunday.

Radar imagery showed numerous instances of debris lofted amid this rotation, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a total of 12 tornado warnings across New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

At one point, two simultaneous tornadoes were probably ongoing near Islip, L.I. The Weather Service office in New York City was conducting damage surveys near Mastic and Shirley on Sunday to determine whether and where tornadoes touched down and to assign damage ratings. In Shirley, a shopping center suffered heavy damage from the storms.

Ryan Hanrahan, a broadcast meteorologist in Hartford, said this activity in Connecticut was unprecedented. "Since records began in 1950 we've never had tornadoes this late in the season," he tweeted.

Tornado warnings were also issued in Providence, R.I., and in Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Across the four states, more than 5,000 people were without electricity Sunday morning, according to Poweroutage.us. The Weather Service received more than 50 reports of storm damage in the region, mostly from downed trees.

Saturday was the second day in a row that the Weather Service issued multiple tornado warnings in the region, after two on Friday as the first of two cold fronts swept through. The Weather Service office in Albany confirmed that a tornado rated EF1 on the 0-to-5 Enhanced Fujita scale for twister damage, with 90 mph winds, touched down near Millbrook, which is roughly midway between New York City and Albany.

The tornado activity on Friday and Saturday continued what has been a historic year for severe weather in the Northeast. Several Weather Service offices in the region have issued record numbers of warnings for severe storms and tornadoes.

Ordinarily, severe storms are on the decline in the Northeast during its cold season, which spans the period from October through March. Storms at this time of year require heat to destabilize the atmosphere, and its supply dwindles into the winter months. During this entire period, the Northeast typically sees only around two tornadoes each year on average.

But a number of highly unusual tornado events have rocked the region since Oct. 1, climaxing in Saturday's event.

Three Weather Service offices have issued record-setting numbers of tornado warnings since Oct. 1:

The New York City Weather Service office, which also covers northern New Jersey, extreme-southeast New York state, all of Long Island and the southern half of Connecticut, issued five tornado warnings Saturday. That warning count single-handedly exceeds any previous October-to-March period and represents a third of the cold season warnings ever issued (since records began in 1986). The office has also issued more tornado warnings this month than any since September 2012. And, for the year, the office has issued a record-tying 16 tornado warnings.

The Binghamton, N.Y., Weather Service office, which also serves Syracuse, Wilkes-Barre, Ithaca and Utica, has issued five tornado warnings since Oct. 1, two more than any previous cold season, and it's only mid-November. One third of the cold season tornado warnings that the office has ever issued have been in the past six weeks.

The Boston Weather Service office, which also covers much of Rhode Island, northern Connecticut and eastern Massachusetts, has issued seven tornado warnings since Oct. 1. Before this year, it had issued only six in all other years — one in 2020 and the rest in 2018. The 22 tornado warnings it has issued in 2021 are, by far, a record.

The blame for a cold season as far beyond precedent as 2021's probably lies at least partially in climate change, which has quickly increased the temperature of waters immediately adjacent to the Northeast coastline.

The ocean cools more slowly than land, meaning a warm Atlantic can act as the fuel required for tornadoes even as the sun's energy wanes. When water adjacent to the coast is warmer than normal, this fuel availability increases.

Over the past week, coastal waters offshore the Northeast have been three to six degrees warmer than normal. As human-caused climate change continues to disproportionately warm the North Atlantic, cold season tornadoes could increase over the region.

The Washington Post and the Hartford Courant contributed to this report.