Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, had about 300,000 electricity customers without electricity earlier Sunday as spring storms brought cold rain and sleet.
Ice from the storm covered the branches, captured some power cords on Saturday and created dangerous driving conditions. Michigan’s National Weather Service Office posted photos of trees compressed with icicles on social media.
Earlier Sunday, more than one million people were under ice storm warnings in parts of Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin. An inch of ice is expected to accumulate in some places,
Officials urge residents in southern Michigan to not travel. They also warned drivers to be cautious on the Mackinac Bridge, which links Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with the southern part of the state due to icy conditions and the possibility of falling icicles.
In eastern Canada, Quebec authorities warned of frozen rain and up to one tenth of an inch of ice on Sunday, according to the Environment Canada report.
Harold Dippman, a meteorologist with the Gaylord Meteorological Bureau in Michigan, said the ice storm is producing more ice. Typical ice cubes in the area produce one-tenth to one-quarter of an inch of ice, but so far there has been a half-in to three-quarters of an inch buildup.
The storm lasts longer than usual. It’s a typical duration of six to 12 hours, Mr Dippman said, but the storm began on Saturday night and could last until Sunday night.
Early cold conditions hit the area from Friday to Saturday morning.
More than 109,000 Michigan customers had no power earlier Sunday, according to data from surveillance site PowerOutage.us.
In Ontario, about 179,000 customers were powerless earlier on Sunday, Hydro One, a major Ontario power generation company, said. The company said on its website that the blackouts are concentrated in central and eastern Ontario, mainly caused by ice that compresses branches.
Hydro One said the power has recovered to more than 116,000 customers.
