Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties

Bitter cold in Michigan, big pileup near Muskegon

FRUITLAND TOWNSHIP (AP) - Cold, snowy weather continuing to grip Michigan is being blamed for a 40-vehicle pileup on a western Michigan expressway, injuring a sheriff's deputy.

The Muskegon County sheriff's department said the chain-reaction crash happened Thursday morning on U.S. 31 in Fruitland Township, north of Detroit.

MLive.com says a deputy who sustained minor injuries was the only person reported hurt. Weather-related crashes killed two people Tuesday.

The National Weather Service said temperatures Thursday are well below freezing around the state, with overnight lows of minus 9 at Newberry and minus 8 at Gwinn in the Upper Peninsula.

The state's hot spot for the day was 25 at South Haven.

WOOD-TV said Grand Rapids was marking its eighth straight day with measurable snowfall.

Grand Rapids had received 11.5 inches so far this year.

Ironwood was at about 50 inches.