MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – In a matter of hours Monday morning, the Upper Peninsula was sieged by high winds and wet snow, leading to major service groups like MarqTran, UP Health System outpatient clinics, city and county buildings and gas stations closing their doors for the day.
“We had a pretty impactful system lift through the Great Lakes, and as it moved through the region it got stronger,” said Joe Phillips, a lead Meteorologist at the Marquette National Weather Service Forecast office. “Usually the snow isn’t that impactful by itself, but with this storm, we had a large number of wind reports that accompanied it widespread, 40 to 50 mph winds were observed.”
This wind ultimately caused thousands of outages throughout the Upper Peninsula, putting power companies and road commissions into full speed.
A few visitors to the area told WZMQ 19 that the conditions abruptly changed their travel plans.
“I was supposed to drive home today, but this is a nice way to extend the trip without having to decide,” said Traverse City resident, Belle Payette.
“A tree did fall on my car so that was a little unfortunate, but we got lucky and its pretty unscathed,” said partner, Nels Lunquist.
The National Weather Service advises the public to stay inside unless absolutely necessary, until conditions are expected to dampen around 7:00 p.m. Monday evening.
To stay updated, visit weather.gov.
