Christmas weekend blizzard batters region

By P.J. GLISSON

news@yourdailyglobe.com

Christmas spirit was challenged last week when a lingering blizzard literally took the Gogebic Range by storm, causing multiple accidents and dropping nearly two and one-half feet of snow over four days.

“It was quite a storm,” said Iron County Sheriff Paul Samardich, who added that it was one of the worst that he can remember in the past quarter century. “It was difficult. I would say we had 25 to 30 weather-related accidents.”

“Mass chaos” was the description from Det. Jesse Yesney of the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office. “I’m 35 years old, and I can’t recall this much snow in my life.”

The storm was complicated by wind chill in the negative teens, as well as high winds that caused drifting of new and existing snow.

“It was a little bit of a mess,” said Yesney. “At one point, we ran out of towing services in the area.” He added that a wrecker from Ashland, Wisconsin, came to help.

In addition to “a lot of vehicles in the ditch,” Yesney said, “I was even notified at one point that Beacon (Ambulance Services in Ironwood) was getting stuck.”

He said that a plow truck also got stuck in a snow bank.

Winter Storm Elliot, which took a broad swipe at much of the nation, had been forecast to run from the wee hours of Dec. 23 through 6 p.m. on Dec. 24, but the National Weather Service in Marquette had issued a weather advisory already for Dec. 22, and snow and high winds continued into the start of Christmas Day.

The Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Facility in Ironwood measured a total of 28.9 inches of snow over the four days from Dec. 22-25, with 19.6 inches of that falling on last Saturday alone.

“I think the biggest thing about this blizzard was the timing — having it happen right before Christmas,” said Joe Phillips, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Marquette, Michigan.

He said the holiday weekend certainly “complicated the situation.”

Phillips said the brunt of the storm on Friday and Saturday was caused by a strong low-pressure system from as far south as Mississippi, Oklahoma and Kansas that moved toward Detroit and Ontario, Canada, while meeting with a strong high pressure system that moved from the northern Rockies into the Central Plains.

In addition, he said, “There was an initial wave that came through on Thursday, and then right after that left we started getting more of that lake effect.”

Because Lake Superior still lacks ice, Phillips said that conditions were prime for lake-effect snow, which lingered into Sunday.

Wind gusts had been forecast in this region as high as 65 mph, depending on the day, and Phillips said Lake Superior resulted with “hurricane-gust force.”

He added that Stannard Rock Lighthouse off the Keweenaw Peninsula reported winds of 79 mph, and lake waves had been expected to be more than 25 feet high.

Mike Swartz, the highway commissioner for the Iron County Highway Department in Hurley, noted that “visibility was terrible” during the blizzard and added that the issue was exacerbated by the fact that some drivers did not use headlights during the day.

In addition, he said that roads were icier than usual because “salt doesn’t work when it’s that cold.”

Local city officials, as well as sheriff’s offices, warned people to stay off the roads from Thursday through Saturday.

On Christmas Eve, the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office reported on social media that wreckers were unable to process “the increasing amount of vehicles stuck in roadways, cars in ditches, and accidents. Even Beacon is getting stuck going to calls, so again, if not absolutely necessary please stay home and have a safe holiday.”

The Gogebic County Road Commission also advised that its workers would pull plows from side roads at 2 p.m. that day and would not resume plowing them until 3 a.m. on Christmas Day, although main highways continued to be cleared throughout the blizzard.

“PLEASE PLEASE STAY HOME!” begged the Ironwood Township Fire Department on social media on Christmas Eve. “Please stay home and stay safe.”

“Given these true blizzard conditions, please stay home and keep cars off the road to allow the plow drivers to perform their work,” stated the city of Ironwood in its own announcement on the same day.”They will do all they can on this shift and then will be in again tonight to continue clearing the snow off the roads.”

Ironwood’s Department of Public Safety had announced already on Dec. 21 that the city would use CodeRED, an emergency alert system for which citizens can sign up free, to provide time-sensitive information as needed.

The Michigan State Police also had warned people on the roads to consult michigan.gov/Drive for information on road conditions.

Stranded in Wakefield

MSP Sgt. James Revoyr of the Wakefield Post said that while there wasn’t a lot of traffic on the roads, when accidents did occur, it was “slow-going” for troopers due to the need to wait for wrecker service.

“All the first responders did a good job,” said Revoyr, who added that it was “really nice” to learn that the city of Wakefield had opened a shelter for stranded motorists last weekend.

Wakefield City Manager Robert Brown Jr. explained to The Globe how that need developed.

He said the Holiday Stationstore in Wakefield called and said they had a lot of stranded people at the station, and “it was getting a little full there.”

Brown said that City Councilman Mike Zeckovich used his truck to transfer people from the store to the city’s municipal building, where Brown monitored a group of about 30 people who snacked on pizzas, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and beverages donated by Holiday.

The kids kept busy with activities, including chalkboard art, during the 10-hour period that it took to find local hotel rooms for everyone present.

At 12:55 a.m. on Christmas Day, the city’s Facebook page noted, “The last of our guests have found local lodging, and Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office has indicated no further stranded motorists requiring shelter. Therefore, our Warming Shelter is deactivated.”

Region cleans up

Throughout Sunday, many people were busy digging their way out of their homes as plow drivers continued the hard task of clearing roadways.

Sheriff Samardich in Iron County reported few issues with power outages, and Det. Yesney at the GCSO said that welfare checks were underway in relation to the elderly.

As of Tuesday, Swartz, the Iron County highway commissioner, said that “a lot of clean-up” still awaits.

“We have a lot of issues with the high banks,” he said, warning that it’s difficult to see past the piles of snow at intersections, where workers have distributed sand.

Still, he said, snow removal will persist, in part to “make room for more snow.”

Warming ahead

As of Wednesday morning, the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Facility reported 109.8 inches of snow for the season, compared to a 1989 record of 149.8 inches for that date. A Halloween storm occurred in that year.

Snow depth Wednesday morning was 17 inches. 

“Right now it looks like we’re heading into a warming period,” said Phillips, the meteorologist. He expects that most of the U.P. might have temperatures above freezing for today and tomorrow.

One lighthearted report on Dec. 23, which was the first official day of the blizzard, came from the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office, which issued the following news at 10:09 a.m.:

“Yesterday evening, local law enforcement received a tip regarding an individual in green stealing kids’ Christmas presents,” the message noted. “The individual was located, apprehended without incident, transported to jail and subsequently released on his own recognizance (he apologized to all the kids). His name will not be released pending arraignment, but you may recognize him from the pictures.”

Accompanying photos showed a creature looking suspiciously like the Grinch.