Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
GUY ANDERSON, of Ironwood, moves snow from a driveway on Sutherland Street in Ironwood Tuesday afternoon. It wasn't his driveway, but he says he likes to move snow for friends, relatives and veterans who need some help.
By RALPH ANSAMI
The winter storm that swept through the Gogebic Range Monday evening and early Tuesday didn't produce excessive amounts of snow, but drifting conditions made driving hazardous.
U.S. 2 near Ashland was closed Monday evening because of winds whipping heavy snow off Lake Superior across the highway.
Winds gusted as high as 30 mph across the Upper Peninsula.
Parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin received more than a foot of snow.
Area snowfall totals varied greatly, with Ironwood receiving only 4 inches at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Facility on the Montreal River, off Cloverland Drive. Watersmeet received 10 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
In Ontonagon County, Paulding was blanketed with 10.3 inches of snow and at the eastern end of the Upper Peninsula, Negaunee measured 11.5 inches.
Marquette County weather stations received from 5 to 10 inches of snow through Tuesday morning.
In what the weather service called a "classic Colorado low snowstorm," the Upper Mississippi River Valley and upper Great Lakes was affected.
The snow was exceptionally heavy and wet, with the snow to water ratios averaging less than 10 to one.
The snow mixed with freezing drizzle at times and that made traveling very slippery and hazardous.
Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton activated the National Guard to assist stranded motorists in southern Minnesota after blizzard conditions developed.
Light snow continued to fall in downtown Ironwood around noon Tuesday, as the sun had not popped out, as predicted.
Dense fog in Marquette County on Monday reduced visibility to as low as a quarter mile. The poor visibility throughout the storm caused Michigan State Police to offer tips on driving under such poor light conditions. They noted low beam headlights can increase visibility to other drivers.
"Make sure you turn your headlights on when you have the automated lights," said Andrew Peterson, a state trooper. "Sometimes (the automatic lights) don't work in bad weather and sometimes when they do; your taillights don't come on, so the drivers coming up behind you might not be able to see you."
It's important to remember to turn the manual lights off when exiting the vehicle, however, or it can cause the battery to run down.
Peterson offered another tip. "Just because it says 55, doesn't mean you need to go 55," he said.
