A wintry mix of strong wind gusts plus snow in Leelanau and for much of northern-lower Michigan are expected in the days ahead following severe weather from a devastating ice storm event earlier this week.
On March 31, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for 10 counties impacted by the ice storm. The counties included in the emergency declaration are: Otsego, Oscoda, Montmorency, Presque Isle, Emmet, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Crawford, Mackinac, and Alpena. The state reports that the storm has caused “widespread power outages, including loss of backup generators, loss of phone and cellular services, and impassable roads due to downed trees and other debris in northern Michigan.” The emergency declaration makes available all state resources, and authorizes the Michigan State Police (MSP), Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division (EMHSD) to coordinate state efforts beyond what the MSP/EMHSD have already been doing in conjunction with local agencies.
Andy Sullivan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) Gaylord, said strong wind gusts up to 35-40 mph began early Wednesday and will remain elevated into today. He said winds may jeopardize any weakened structures and could down additional trees and limbs, especially in and near the counties that experienced the brunt of the ice storm. Sullivan said temperatures in Leelanau will remain relatively warm in the high 40s in the coming days though.
“There’s two things going on. There’s severe weather potential downstate and there’s also wind from a storm system northwest,” Sullivan said. “It’s going to be windy everywhere. Severe weather looks like it’s going to be south of northern Michigan down in central and southern Michigan… In Leelanau, so far it’s just been some real light snow — it’s going to be more snow changing over to rain eventually, but we’re not expecting any ice accumulations.”
Sullivan said the ice storm was a historic one, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power and heat and causing several counties to declare a shelter in place order on Monday. Reports of 0.5-1 inches of ice were recorded across northern Michigan during the height of the storm. As of Wednesday morning, Consumers Energy has restored power to more than 82% of the more than 285,000 customers affected by last weekend’s storms.
“It’s been decades, if not a century since there’s been something this bad… Poles and powerlines are down everywhere all the way into the (Gaylord) city limits,” Sullivan said, adding that the NWS in Gaylord was still without power and running on a generator. “It’s the worst that we’ve seen here and I’ve been here for almost 25 years at this office, it’s by far and above anything I’ve ever experienced in my life anywhere. Anyone you talk to — nothing has come this close to this much ice and this much damage than what we’ve seen with this system.”
Matt Ansorge, Leelanau County Director of Emergency Management, said if a similar situation occurred here, their response would be close if not the same to agencies currently responding and working together to bring resources to affected communities.
“If the weather were to exceed our capabilities, that’s when we reach out to neighboring communities for assistance and then eventually to the state,” Ansorge said. “We respond to severe weather as we normally do when it comes in, we send our fire/EMS personnel out there to address issues, law enforcement gets involved… if we’re just not able to handle the weather event, that’s when it escalates to mutual aid.”
While not an ice storm, in August 2015, Ansorge said the county had to manage a straight-line wind event that caused extensive damage throughout Leelanau due to winds up to 100 mph along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Ansorge said they were able to achieve a governor’s declaration for the severe weather event, and received additional resources from the state to help address clearing the roadways and the rebuilding of the electrical grid in Glen Arbor.
“We’re very fortunate that we didn’t receive the ice accumulation that parts of the state did — The important thing for the public to know during these severe weather events is that they need to be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours,” Ansorge said. “If the power goes out, they need to be able to rely on themselves for 72 hours. The emergency services in the county are going to be working to make it as easy as possible, but unfortunately, it’s not realistic for local government to help every single citizen for those first 72 hours.”
