High winds from a winter storm have knocked out power to thousands in Michigan, with some reported wind gusts reaching 60 mph.
The majority of the more than 25,000 electric customers who have lost power are in the Upper Peninsula, where the National Weather Service said as much as 3 feet of snow could fall in some areas by Friday, Nov. 28.
Wind gusts on Wednesday, Nov. 26, were recorded as high and 63 mph along the Lake Michigan shoreline at Ludington.
The winter storm spiraling over Michigan this week brought numerous warnings and advisories with it, including a blizzard warning in the UP, high winter storm warnings, wind warnings, and storm and gale warnings on the Great Lakes.
In addition to the gusty winds continuing through Thanksgiving, snow also is still falling in northern Michigan areas. Some areas in the UP already have received 2 feet of snow.
“Potent lake effect snow continues today into tonight across northwest snowbelts with moderate to heavy accumulations and gusty winds leading to whiteout conditions at times. Dangerous travel conditions are expected under the heaviest snow bands,” the National Weather Service said on X on Nov. 27.
“Travel will be very difficult to impossible over much of the U.P and should be restricted to emergency travel where blizzard conditions,” the weather service in Marquette added on X.
Consumers Energy was reporting the highest number of outages Thursday morning, 10,156 as of Nov. 27, mostly clustered along the Lake Michigan shoreline between Muskegon, Holland and Grand Rapids.
The Upper Peninsula Power Company had 4,481 customers without service, most in Houghton County.
In a release, UPPCO said, “Blizzard conditions and oversaturated ground are making travel and line access challenging, which may extend restoration times. We’ve added contractor crews in Ontonagon and Houghton to support our teams already in the field. We’re closely monitoring the storm as it moves through the region and are ready to respond.”
“Since early this morning (Nov. 26), UPPCO crews have restored power to nearly 10,700 customers. Bootjack/Rice Lake Rd area: expect outages to last thru tonight,” UPPCO said in a post on X Wednesday night, Nov. 26.
Other electricity suppliers were reporting smaller numbers of outages.
In the UP, the the largest number of outages was in Gogebic County with 2,365. Houghton County had 2,197 outages. In the Lower Peninsula, Ottawa County had 3,438 outages as of Thursday morning.
If your power does go out because of storm damage or wind, Michigan’s electric providers have online tools to help you find out when it might come back on.
Here’s where you can report or check on outages in areas of Michigan expected to be impacted.
Consumers Energy power outage map
Use Consumers Energy’s power outage map here.
You can report downed power lines by calling 800-477-5050.
DTE power outage map
Use DTE’s power outage map here.
DTE reminds folks to “please be safe and remember to stay at least 25 feet from any downed power lines — assume they are live and dangerous.”
Report any outage or downed line here.
Lansing Board of Water & Light power outage map
Use Lansing Board of Water & Light’s power outage map here.
To report an outage, call 877-295-5001 or go to the company’s website.
Homeworks Tri-County Electric Cooperative outage map
Use Homeworks’ power outage map here. You can report downed power lines by calling 800-848-9333.
Thumb Electric Cooperative outage map
To report an outage, either visit the website and log in or call 800-327-0166.
To see the outage map, visit the website.
Presque Ile Electric & Gas Co-Op outage map
To report an outage, call 800-423-6634.
To see the outage map, visit the website.
Great Lakes Energy outages
Call 888-485-2537. You can also use the Great Lakes Energy app or log in on the website. Outages cannot be reported via email or social media.
You can see any outages on the website map.
Indiana Michigan Power outage reporting
You can view outages in southwest Michigan on the website.
Immediately after a major storm, report only safety hazards such as downed power lines or equipment that is sparking. The phone number is 800-311-4634; or report an outage on the company website.
Is your service not listed here?
Use poweroutage.us to see other Michigan services and whether there are updates in your area.
There are numerous of public electric and utility companies throughout Michigan. Contact information is available on the Michigan Municipal Electric Association website.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Thousands without power amid snowstorm. Here’s where lights are out
Reporting by Dan Basso, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
