Snow and strong winds continued across northern Michigan on Monday night after Grand Traverse County issued a public safety advisory warning of "life threatening" driving conditions.
That snow and wind tapered off overnight and into Tuesday morning as the storm moved northeast, but road conditions will vary widely. Light lake effect snow continues today, with one to two inches of accumulation expected.
A winter storm warning has been downgraded to a winter weather advisory, which expires at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Dan Cornish, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord, says the Grand Traverse area likely received about a foot of snow during the storm. Farther north, the Petoskey, Cheboygan and Mackinac County areas likely received more than two feet.
"While the totals themselves are impressive, when you combine that with the winds that we saw, it certainly makes the impacts just that much greater, especially with the amount of drifting that we've seen across the area," Cornish said.
Below freezing temperatures that moved in on Monday are expected to stick around until later this week.
"[We're] looking at a warm up on Thursday, so looking at temperatures finally getting above freezing into the 40s for most areas of northern lower Michigan," Cornish said.
Those temps could bring relief to areas hit harder by ice, like Wexford County, Oscoda and Alpena.
"We received a lot of icing reports right around a quarter of an inch or higher," Cornish said. "So some of the highest reports are close to four-tenths of an inch, and those measurements are on branches across multiple parts of that area."
In last year's ice storm, many areas saw more than an inch of ice accumulate.
More than 100,000 Michiganders are still without power. Most of those customers are along the Highway M-55 corridor stretching eastward from Cadillac to Missaukee and Roscommon counties and north to Alcona and Alpena counties. Consumers Energy crews are working to restore power. Find warming centers here.
Road conditions vary widely Tuesday morning, with some secondary roads still impassible.
In the Grand Traverse area, roads that closed yesterday have reopened. Benzie County Road Commission wrote on Facebook that it was "breaking out the big iron," posted along with a photo of a heavy duty V-plow.
As for meteorologist Dan Cornish: "I got to say, those are some of the worst roads that I've been on. Right up there, actually, with the blizzard that we saw around Christmas time, several years back. If my truck stopped, I was getting stuck."
But he says he had "no troubles" getting in for a shift which started Monday night.
