The first winter storm of the season hit Leelanau County with a vengeance this week - nearly a month before winter officially begins on Dec. 22.

A downed tree near Duck Lake Corners south of Leland
closed M-22 for a period of time Tuesday. Icy roads and high
winds results in numerous problems for county motorists.

The director of Leelanau County’s Emergency Management department, Tom Skowronski, reported that more than 30 “weather-related events” were recorded at the county’s 9-1-1 Dispatch Center on Tuesday – including a report of a Jeep that apparently flipped over on the Glen Lake Narrows Bridge as the result of a wind gust.

“I have no idea what I might have done wrong,” said driver Ann Davey of Empire, “but I was driving very slowly on the ice and it just seemed like the wind made my car go airborne and put it on its roof. My car is a real tank, too,” she added.

Davey said she was especially grateful to Leelanau County Sheriff’s Deputy Mary Patterson, the Glen Arbor Fire and Rescue Department and Taghon’s Service in Empire for coming to her aid.

Elsewhere, high winds brought down power lines, resulting in the closure of Leland Public School and the Leelanau County courthouse in Leland. Students attended school for several hours without power until a downed power line blocking M-22 near The Whaleback was secured and buses could take them home. School let out about 20 minutes early.

Although power was restored to most customers Tuesday evening, it wasn’t until around 4 a.m. Wednesday that power for a boiler and computer servers at Leland Public School was fully restored.

Meanwhile, at the county courthouse, the power outage on Tuesday delayed one of the most important functions of government, according to government employees – generation of the county employee payroll.

County clerk Michelle Crocker said the power went out at the courthouse around 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, along with the heat and e-mail. Most employees were out of the building by 3 p.m. She reported that the payroll was completed Wednesday morning.

Sustained winds as high as 58 miles per hour were recorded Tuesday in Leland Township by weather watcher Dick Miller. But Skowronski said the highest sustained winds at the Law Enforcement Center were clocked at 48 miles per hour.

Over the past week, some six inches of snow has fallen at the Suttons Bay garage of the Leelanau County Road Commission. On Tuesday, however, a scant amount of snow fell – with the major problems coming from sleet, freezing rain and the wind.

“The storm started about 7 a.m. and started calming down about 1 p.m., “ Skowronski said. “Several of these (weather related) events required a response from law enforcement, fire, ambulance, road commission, wrecker service, utility company – and some required more than one department,” he said.

“Traffic had to be detoured around trees and/or power lines, or both, in a few locations for several hours,” he added. “We lost power in several areas, but most were short durations. Northport, Omena, and Leland were out for several hours.”

The National Weather Service forecast for today and tonight in Leelanau County called for “heavy snow,” a high temperature of 28 degrees and an overnight low of 21 degrees. A “chance of snow” was expected to persist through the weekend.