Winter weather descends on Detroit area: Over 97K without power, DTW cancels flights
FOX 2 (WJBK) - A winter blast is hitting metro Detroit full force this Friday, impacting this evening, overnight and well through the weekend.
A Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 7 p.m. Saturday. Our latest winter storm will bring accumulating snow to metro Detroit on the order of three to-five inches.
Snow has tapered off Friday night, now mixed with rain – with temperatures ranging between 32 and 40 degrees throughout the area.
Many also reported thundersnow across metro Detroit, which does not occur often.
Power outages
As of 11:30 p.m. Friday, over 97,000 DTE Energy customers are without power. CLICK HERE for the DTE Outage Map.
"More than a thousand DTE employees are ready to respond to outages caused by this extreme weather system," according to DTE's outage center.
Road conditions
The heavier snow rates have led to accumulation on untreated roadways Friday, and the rain has made roads slushy.
Highly fluctuating visibilities down to a quarter-mile or even less is ongoing for drivers, given the breezy conditions.
US-23 road conditions were bad when FOX 2's Weather Beast traveled through Friday, finding numerous cars spun out into ditches. On M-14, although plenty of tow trucks were out, traffic was moving at a slow pace.
In Bloomfield Township, police reported about 22 car crashes, shutting down the road from Lone Pine, all the way to Quarton Friday night. Tow trucks are having difficulty reaching backed up areas.
Several semi-trucks were not able to make it up the hill on Northbound Telegraph Road, just south of Long Lake in Oakland County, causing major traffic.
Michigan State Police said they have handled over 30 crashes on Friday.
DTW flight cancelations
According to FlightAware, 177 Friday flights were canceled at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
As of Friday night, there have been 45 DTW flight cancelations for Saturday.
Due to bad weather, the DTW airfield was temporarily closed for an hour earlier in the evening, DTW told FOX 2 Friday. It is currently open; the Federal Aviation Administration and air carriers will route aircrafts to gates based on the open and available taxiways. The taxiways that are not open are being treated and cleaned.
"Our Airfield Operations and Maintenance crews are working around the clock to maintain our runways and taxiways," according to DTW.
Anthony Michniak, on a Delta flight, said he along with many other passengers were stranded on a DTW runway for about 3 hours Friday.
"Once we got landed, and we got up to the airport, they shifted us away from the airport. We sat out there for over three hours waiting to get off the plane," he said. "There was planes that landed behind us that they cleared spots for and let them pull in. There was fights on the plane, there was arguments, there was screaming kids… Not one person on the flight can give you an answer."
Saturday-Wednesday forecast
Weather turns windy and colder Saturday and Sunday, with a dangerous wind chill reading expected. The cold air sticks around for much of next week.
Saturday: Occasional snow showers are expected. The high will be near 30 degrees, but wind chills will be much colder.
Sunday (Lions game): Cloudy, blustery and cold with a few snow flurries. Highs near 15 degrees.
Monday (MLK-Day): mostly cloudy and frigid with a high of 12.
Tuesday: Partly cloudy and frigid with a high near 11.
Wednesday: Increasing clouds, still frigid, with a high of 17.
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