High winds and heavy snow continued into Friday night across most of the Upper Peninsula, with the exception being in the Escanaba area.
Escanaba has received minor snow accumulations that have been whipped around by 30-mile-per-hour winds into snow drifts in parking lots and on sidewalks, but the area has so far been spared the heavy snowfall that places away from the “banana belt” have seen.
Wind gusts of 60 miles per hour were reported Friday afternoon in Copper Harbor, and 40 mph wind gusts were reported in Marquette.
Travel conditions are poor across most of the Upper Peninsula, with minor accidents and cars in ditches being reported. A more significant accident happened on US-2 near Gulliver at around 1:30 in the afternoon when a semi truck slid off the road and jacknifed, slowing traffic in the area even further.
The Mackinac Bridge has been on a partial closure all afternoon long, and was still in that mode heading into the evening, thanks to 50-to-65 mile per hour winds. The Mackinac Bridge Authority was allowing only passenger cars, vans, and empty pick-up trucks to cross, and that was at 20 miles per hour. There are staff posted at both ends of the bridge, stopping other vehicles from crossing and making sure the 20 mile-per-hour speed is enforced.
As of 5:00 Friday, there had not been major power outages reported in the Upper Peninsula. The most, at Cloverland Electric Co-op, was reporting roughly 600 customers without power in Mackinac and Chippewa Counties. Other utilities, including UPPCO, Marquette Board of Light and Power, We Energies, and Alger-Delta Co-op reported either zero or a handful of outages on their web pages.
Michigan State Police say that travel is not recommended across the Upper Peninsula due to snow-covered roads and reduced visibility in many areas. If you do travel, have a winter survival kit in your vehicle, with blankets, extra clothes, food, water, flares, and flashlights in your car.
“Travel should be restricted to emergencies only,” the National Weather Service warned.
As of 5:00, there were no road closures in the Upper Peninsula, according to the M-DOT “mi drive” web map, which does indicate slower-than-usual speeds.
The National Weather Service has downgraded Menominee and Dickinson Counties to a Winter Weather Advisory, with two inches or less of snow accumulation expected, but areas of blowing snow still likely. Delta County was still under a Winter Storm Warning, primarily in the northern and eastern areas of the county, where 12 inches of snow could fall by Saturday evening. The Escanaba area, as well as areas in the southwestern part of the county, would see only 1-to-4 more inches of snow, according to the NWS.
Baraga and Iron Counties were also under a Winter Storm Warning through Saturday night at 7 p.m.
But the rest of the U.P. remained under a Blizzard Warning. In Marquette, Alger, and Schoolcraft Counties, 10-to-24 inches of new snow was expected, with 55-to-65 mile per hour wind gusts along the lakeshore and 40-to-45 mph gusts further inland. The Weather Service warned that visibility will be near zero at times east of Marquette, although at last word, M-28 was not closed in its usual areas between Harvey and Munising. Wind chill factors will also be as low as 20 degrees below zero across the entire Upper Peninsula.
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