Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
The Copper Country continues to dig out from the Christmas Eve blizzard.
National Weather Service data shows the heaviest snowfall occurred in southern Houghton County, with 30-inch totals reported from Nisula south into the Sturgeon River Gorge. A wider area from Twin Lakes south to Sidnaw picked up 24 inches, as did the Herman area in Baraga County, and the area around White Pine and Bergland in Ontonagon County. Totals varied widely, though, with one station south of Baraga reporting 42 inches, and a Laurium reporter logging 34 inches.
Copper Harbor recorded only around 4 inches. Houghton, Hancock, Calumet and L’Anse each recorded around a foot.
The weather station at the Houghton County Memorial Airport reported sustained winds of 45 miles per hour or more at the height of the storm on Friday, with gusts to 70 miles per hour.
The weather will continue to moderate through the week, with highs in the upper 30s predicted for Friday.
The blizzard forced cancellations and postponements of dozens of Christmas events, including many church services.
Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly was able to stage most of its Christmas sit-down and delivered meals as scheduled Sunday, but there were a couple of exceptions. Meals scheduled for delivery from the South Range site were delayed to yesterday. The sit-down dinner and meals scheduled for delivery from Saint Ann’s Church in Baraga have been postponed to Thursday.
In the wake of the storm, the Michigan State Police are reminding motorists to slow down and give a wide berth to law enforcement officers on the job.
One MSP trooper was hospitalized with broken bones and internal injuries after a skidding car hit a vehicle that was already disabled along I-94 in the Detroit area, and pushed that vehicle into the officer. Several other troopers suffered slight injuries in separate incidents in which their patrol cars were hit by drivers traveling too fast for conditions.
State law requires that drivers slow down and move well out of the way when law enforcement and other emergency responders are working at the side of a road. That includes tow truck drivers, when their lights are flashing.
