- Almost a year after an ice storm clobbered a dozen Up North counties, another storm brought feet of snow to the Upper Peninsula and ice across the northern Lower Peninsula
- More than 100,000 electric customers lost power, and most remained in the dark a day after the storm passed through
- Many businesses and schools were closed across the region as residents worked to dig out on Monday
Schools and many businesses were closed across northern Michigan on Monday as a winter storm continued to move through the region.
The storm that started Sunday wreaked havoc Up North, with 31 inches of snow hitting Three Lakes in the northwestern Upper Peninsula while more than a quarter-inch of ice coated trees and power lines across the northern Lower Peninsula.
The storm battered the area almost exactly one year after a devastating ice storm toppled millions of trees, knocking out the region’s power grid and leaving thousands of customers in the dark — some for as long as two weeks.
Joe Delizio, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Gaylord, said it was too early to compare Sunday’s storms to last year’s late-winter wallop, as assessments were still underway.
“My money is on last year’s storm in regards to total icing, but we’re still seeing some pretty significant impacts from last night’s event,” he said Monday.
Winds peaked as high as 69 mph in parts of the Upper Peninsula Sunday, said Ryan Metzger, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Marquette.
More than 118,000 electric customers remained without power across northern Michigan late-afternoon Monday, according to tracking site poweroutage.us, with Roscommon, Alcona and Missaukee counties especially hard-hit.
Consumers Energy spokesperson Katie Carey said the utility had some 650 crews Up North to work on restoration. Crews were still assessing the damage Monday morning before turning to restoration work.
She urged residents to stay off the road unless absolutely necessary: “That helps everyone out,” she said.
In Alpena County, Alpena Power Co. planned to bring in additional crews Monday and Tuesday, but President and Chief Operating Officer Ken Dragiewicz warned it would be “a multi-day outage” for many of the more than 13,000 customers who remained without power Monday afternoon.
“We’re continuing to accrue ice and get more damage to the system,” Dragiewicz said Monday, including trees and limbs falling on power lines.
According to the National Weather Service, by late Monday afternoon, the Traverse City area saw around 14 inches of snow. Petoskey and much of the tip-of-the-mitt saw as much as 25 inches of daily snowfall.
Most businesses across northern Michigan shut their doors for the storm Monday.
But in Kalkaska County, the Starvation Lake Corner Store was open. And the store’s owner, Troy Robertson, was happy to see all the fresh snow.
“This is actually nice,” he said. “The snowmobilers are getting that ride time that they lost from the tail end of February to the beginning of March.”
The shop is on a popular snowmobile trail, and Robertson was at the cash register serving customers all day after arriving early in the morning.
“My truck’s a four-wheel drive, so I just took it easy, took it slow, and got here,” he said.
Snow days make for good business for Robertson, as snowmobilers stop through for gas, snacks and other essentials.
One customer entering the shop joked, “Your gas pumps are getting shorter,” as the storm buried them in deeper and deeper snow.
Robertson said he took frequent breaks all day Monday to shovel the front steps and clear around the pumps.
Snowed-in roads
In downtown Traverse City, Front Street was buried under snow.
Early Monday, Jake Kaberle watched out the window of Burritt’s Fresh Market, where he’s the owner and general manager, as drivers struggled to navigate the street.
“There is a pile of snow in the middle of Front Street that is about mid-chest high, so — hard for vehicles to make left and right turns,” said Kaberle. “A lot of tow trucks, semi wreckers, a lot of, you know, emergency calls coming out of the fire department across the street. It’s a snowy day in northern Michigan, that’s for sure.”
Kaberle said that, of the 16 employees scheduled to work on Monday, five were able to make it in.
“It’s not about volume today, it’s just more about providing a service for those that need it, Kaberle said. “Some folks from the fire department across the street came and picked up lunch for the station. They’re all having Mexican for lunch.”
Lighter snow is in the forecast on Tuesday, with high winds and daytime temperatures in the teens and single digits across northern Michigan.
Leelanau County fire departments and the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office were busy as calls ramped up during the storm.
“If you don’t need to go out, then you shouldn’t,” Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich said. “Look at yourself in the mirror while making the decision because it’s very hazardous.”
Snowplow driver Tim Plamondon said he, along with dozens of other drivers in the area, had been working around the clock over the past two days in the Lake Leelanau area.
“I only got a couple of hours of sleep last night and had to get back at it today,” he said. “Pushing a foot of snow is tough, it’s kind of crazy.”
Power outages still possible
More outages were possible later Monday in the northern Lower Peninsula as lake-effect snow and high winds continued in the region, said Joe Delizio, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Gaylord.
Carey, the Consumers Energy spokesperson, said 126,000 Consumers customers lost power in last year’s storm, compared to 118,000 this year, though she noted Monday that “winds are still pretty strong Up North — we could see more outages today because of that.”
Dragiewicz, of Alpena Power Co., noted that, while the grid remained powered this year, “the conditions are tougher” this year.
“We’re dealing with access issues, sleet and extreme amounts of buildup on both trees, lines and equipment,” he said.
Brian Freiberger of the Leelanau Enterprise contributed to this report. This reporting is made possible by the Northern Michigan Journalism Collaborative, led by Bridge Michigan and Interlochen Public Radio, and funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan.
