Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
THE IRON statue of a miner in Bessemer's Ethnic Commons, along Mary Street, is covered with a fresh coat of snow early Thursday morning.
By CHARITY SMITH
Heavy wet snow overnight Wednesday into Thursday caused power outages in northern Wisconsin, including the area around Mercer, Manitowish Waters and Presque Isle, according to a power company official.
Chris Ouellette, a spokesperson for Xcel Engery, said they company had recorded 2,000 customers without power on Thursday morning.
“The outages started Wednesday evening with the storm that brought heavy, wet snow to the region,” she said. “It brought down trees, power lines and power poles.”
Ouellette said Xcel was bringing in crews from across Wisconsin to clean things up and get the customers’ power back on. She said they hoped to have everyone back on by the end of Thursday.
According to an official National Weather Service measurement at the Gogebic-Iron Wastewater Treatment Facility, Ironwood received three inches of snow for the 24-hour period through 7 a.m. Thursday. Officials reported nine inches of snow on the ground, 14.5 inches of snow for the month of March and 159.2 inches of snow for the season, with more snow expected today.
“We’re looking at another winter clipper system beginning Friday morning at sunrise and continuing through Saturday across the Gogebic Range,” said Nathan Lynum, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Marquette.
According to Lynum, the snowfall this afternoon will be heavy from mid to late afternoon. He said it will “graze” tonight and then slowly taper on Saturday morning with light snowfall through the afternoon.
According to Lynum, the expected snow accumulation is between 2 to 4 inches across the greater Ironwood area and upwards of five inches in the higher terrain, such as the Porcupine Mountains.
“We want people to be aware to expect measurable snowfall of a pretty fair two to five inches across the Gogebic Range and close to Lake Superior,” Lynum said.
The temperature on Saturday will be in the mid-20s and Sunday temperatures will drop into the high teens. Nighttime temperatures over the weekend are expected to be in the single digits and to be near zero on Sunday night. “It’s definitely below seasonal temperatures,” Lynum said. “Pretty seasonally chilly.”
Temperatures are expected to warm up into the low 30s on Monday, he said. Near normal temperatures are expected to return on Tuesday and Wednesday with highs in the upper 30s and 40s, he said.
