Schools and most businesses were closed across the region Monday as a winter storm moved through northern Michigan.
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.
The NWS predicts snow will continue across most of the northwest Lower Peninsula and eastern Upper Peninsula tonight, in addition to strong winds that could create whiteout conditions.
Bad day for travel, unless you have a snowmobile
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 downtown
In downtown Traverse City, Front Street was also buried under snow.
By Monday afternoon, it was mostly cleared. But earlier in the day, with so much snow falling so quickly, 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 of the 16 employees scheduled to work today, 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. Some folks from the fire department across the street came and picked up lunch for the station. They're all having Mexican for lunch.”
The National Weather Service says to expect snow on and off this afternoon and overnight.
Lighter snow is in the forecast tomorrow, with high winds and daytime temperatures in teens and single digits across northern Michigan.
Emergency shelters open across the region
A number of shelters are open tonight for those who need a warm place to sleep.
Goodwill Inn
2943 N. Keystone Rd., Traverse City
Safe Harbor
517 Wellington St., Traverse City
Cadillac Area YMCA
9845 Campus Dr, Cadillac, MI, United States, 49601
Open 5:30 a.m to 9 p.m.
The Refuge in Otsego County, 116 E 5th St. Gaylord, MI 49735
The Refuge is working with local hotels to put people in at discounted rates. Call at 989-350-8231 for more information.
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.
Sunday’s storm wreaked havoc across northern Michigan, 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 power region’s power grid and leaving thousands of customers in the dark — some for as long as two weeks.
Delizio 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.
Katie Carey, a Consumers Energy spokesperson, said 126,000 Consumers customers lost power in last year’s storm, compared to 118,000 this year, though she noted “winds are still pretty strong Up North — we could see more outages today because of that.”
