It wasn’t much at all, but a band of light snow dropping in from the northwest early Wednesday morning certainly slickened the roadways. The snow dropped visibilities from Muskegon to Big Rapids down to about two to three miles. A normal visibility is about 10 miles. The snow showers briefly blanketed the roads and grassy areas, mainy from Grand Rapids to the north/west. The problem came as temperatures were only in the upper 20s to around 30 degrees in many locations. Untreated roadways or secondary roads in rural Oceana, Muskegon, and Newaygo Counties were especially slick.
There were several fender benders, slide-offs, and/or accidents in and around the Grand Rapids metro area early in the morning as well. The snow diminished to just flakes and flurries as it dropped south/east of GR ahead of and along a weak cold front sliding across the state. There were at least two major accidents in Kent County with the first involving a milk truck that flipped over and pinned the driver on westbound I-96 around the Coopersville exit. Get more on that story here!
A second accident occurred on M21 between Ada and Lowell pinning at least two occupants, but it remains unclear if weather was a factor in that mishap. Get more on this story here! The very first accident that came over the police scanners this morning was on 131 around the 14 mile road exit about 4:00 AM. The dispatcher reported a roll-over vehicle with no injuries. Numerous other reports could be heard between 5:00 and 6:00 AM on police scanners with slide-offs or minor accidents from people moving too fast for the wet, possibly icy conditions from temps below freezing and very light snow.
Many areas away from Lake Michigan (especially rural locations) dropped into the mid/upper 20s this morning. Areas along the immediate lakeshore stayed in the low/mid 30s with a west wind coming off the relatively warmer waters of Lake Michigan (water temps are still in the mid/upper 40s). So far Grand Rapids has only tabulated about two tenths of an inch of snow throughout all of November. In a normal/average month, we would have picked-up about 6.6 inches. The chance for any measurable snow the last two days of this month is quite slim, so we’ll begin this winter with a deficit. Temps will actually warm the next several days with a much better chance of liquid precipitation (or just plain rain) in the coming days. Get the complete West Michigan forecast at www.fox17online.com/weather.
