Tagged: winter

Wayne County has fired the head of its roads division after getting deluged with complaints about unplowed roads.

Metro Detroit has as much as ten inches of snow on the ground after a storm earlier this week.

Michelle Smart commutes to her job at Ford in Dearborn using the Southfield Freeway. She says on Monday’s drive, people were trying to make lanes where they could through the snow.

"The plows had not come through. It was extremely slippery and dangerous."

Road crews across the state have been struggling to keep up with this winter’s near-record snowfall with budgets that are much smaller than in years past.

Ten years ago, Wayne County had more than 700 people working for the roads division during the winter months. This year it has a little more than 300.

It’s not just your imagination.

We haven’t been able to get much of a break from what’s shaping up to be a very tough January and February in Michigan, weatherwise.

"It has been a horrible winter -- lately," says George Wetzel of the National  Weather Service in Grand Rapids. "I'll use Lansing as an example. The snowfall thus far this month has been 24.9 inches. That's only 18 inches less than the entire year."

 And it’s not over. Wetzel says more snow is expected Thursday night– a wet, heavy snow that will be difficult to shovel. 

More than 100,000 utility customers in southern Michigan lost power from the "Presidents' Day storm" that hit the state Sunday and Monday... and they're likely to remain without electricity for at least two more days. The Associated Press reports:

Consumers Energy spokesman Tim Pietryga said in a statement Tuesday that most of the Jackson-based utility's customers without power are in Kalamazoo, Lenawee, Monroe, Hillsdale, Calhoun and Branch counties. More than 160,000 customers have been affected.

Pietryga said workers, including 100 utility crews from Indiana and Ohio, should return power to most blacked-out customers by late Thursday evening.

But power may not return to the hardest-hit counties until Friday. DTE Energy Co. reported no major outages.

Six to 10 inches of snow, along with sleet and ice, fell on Lower Michigan between Sunday and Monday.

The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Advisory for west Michigan. 

A cold front passed through the state overnight.   Most parts of Michigan has already recorded their high temperatures for the day.  Temps are expected to fall through the day and into the evening, as Michigan's brief flirtation with Spring comes to an end.  

There's snow in the forecast for Sunday when temperatures are expected to descend back into the teens. 

Though the sun might come out for a bit today, it is going to be a cold one around the state. Temperatures will be in the teens. However, with the wind chill, it'll feel as cold as 11 below in some parts of the region. Meanwhile, a wind chill advisory is in effect for parts of Southeast Michigan until 11 a.m. this morning.

Tonight: Cloudy skies with a chance of flurries. Lows ranging from negative 3 degrees to 10 above... with wind chills down to 10 below.

Tomorrow: A  mix of sun and clouds with a chance of snow. Highs in the low to mid 20's.

It's winter... It's cold... And it's getting colder.

The National Weather Service says cold air is sweeping down onto the lower 48:

A frigid arctic air mass will continue to surge southward east of the Rockies today and Wednesday as a strong frontal system pushes southward through Texas and northern Mexico. As a result, high temperatures across the southern plains will be almost 40 degrees below normal on Wednesday and up to 30 degrees below normal on Thursday.

It looks like the frigid temperatures will be here until Friday when we'll see temperatures in the 20s again.

Here's the forecast for southeast Michigan from the National Weather Service:

Tonight: Scattered flurries before 7pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 2. Wind chill values as low as -14. West wind between 13 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Wednesday: A chance of flurries after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 14. Wind chill values as low as -15. West wind between 15 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Wednesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 0. Wind chill values as low as -11. West wind between 8 and 13 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 14. Wind chill values as low as -13. West southwest wind between 9 and 14 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Thursday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 2. West southwest wind between 9 and 15 mph.

And the forecast for West Michigan:

Tonight: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 7. Wind chill values as low as -8. West wind between 13 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph.

Wednesday: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 16. Wind chill values as low as -8. Breezy, with a west wind between 14 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.

Wednesday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 6. Wind chill values as low as -8. West northwest wind between 7 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.

Thursday: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 16. Wind chill values as low as -9. West southwest wind between 10 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph.

Thursday Night: A 40 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9. Southwest wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

The National Weather Service is releasing data on just how much snow fell during the massive winter storm that sweep across the state this week. South Haven, on the coast of Lake Michigan, saw 20 inches of snow on the ground. That's the largest snowfall so far reported, according to the Associated Press. Muskegon got 19.7 inches. A foot of snow fell in the Lansing area. Flint got 10 inches, Detroit got 8.7 inches.