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IRON MOUNTAIN -- A winter storm brought heavy, wet snow and high winds across the region today, knocking down power lines that left thousands without electricity in the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin.
Though the system locally was not as severe as anticipated, with about 4 to 6 inches falling in the Iron Mountain area rather than the 8 to 12 inches the National Weather Service had thought possible, it was heavy and clingy enough to weigh down lines and topple trees.
Dickinson County had mostly scattered outages, though Felch Township had 1,154 customers without power, according to the We Energies website.
Menominee County appeared to have been harder hit. We Energies listed more than 2,000 customers affected in the area of Hermansville, Spalding and Powers, including the Powers Printing site where The Daily News is produced along with the Daily Press in Escanaba, Mining Journal in Marquette and Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton. All four newspapers were forced to cancel printing a Thursday newspaper, though information will be posted online and paywalls have been taken down for viewing.
We Energies by late afternoon had more than 560 outages in its coverage area, with about 35,300 customers without power in the central Upper Peninsula and portions of Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Public Service website showed about 1,650 outages affecting more than 70,600 customers, primarily in northeast Wisconsin, as of 3 p.m. That included multiple sites in the areas of Pembine, Beecher, Dunbar, Amberg, Wausaukee and Crivitz in Marinette County.
Due to the widespread outages in Marinette County, a warming center for residents and visitors has been opened at Crivitz Village Hall, 800 Henriette Ave., Crivitz.
Jessica Demler, Marinette County Emergency Management coordinator, said the center will be open until power is restored. She urged caution if traveling, as roads were snow-covered and slippery.
No food service is provided, so officials recommended bringing water and non-perishable food as well as other essentials, including pillows and blankets. No firearms or alcoholic beverages are permitted.
More information is available by calling 715-854-20230.
Wausaukee Community Center, 704 Main St., Wausaukee, was to open at 8 a.m. Thursday on an as needed basis for people needing shelter. For questions, call 715-856-5341.
The NWS office in Marquette by late morning had canceled the winter storm warning for Dickinson and Menominee counties, replacing it with a winter weather advisory that will expire at 7 p.m. Central time today.