Snow pushes out of southeast Mich.; cold weekend ahead

Thick, heavy snow that blanketed Metro Detroit's roads and streets early Friday morning is clearing out of the region, leaving a cold weekend in its wake and more wintry weather early next week.

The National Weather Service predicts temperatures dropping into the 20s overnight.

Saturday is expected to be mostly cloudy with highs reaching the mid 30s, which is below average for the date, weather service records show.

There's a chance of rain and snow on Sunday, as the mercury again tops out in the 30s and falls into the 20s, according to the forecast.

Snow is possible again on Monday, though temperatures could climb closer to 40.

The pattern followed a stormy, snowy Friday that sparked a winter weather advisory for much of the region.

Most of the snow fell during the morning commute.

Totals Friday included 5.5 inches in Manchester; 5.4 in Ann Arbor; 5.3 in Wyandotte; 5.2 in Romulus; 4.5 in New Baltimore; 4.3 in Garden City; 3.5 in Eastpointe, St. Clair Shores and Frankenmuth; 2.7 in Howell; 2.3 in White Lake Township; and 2 in Flint, the weather service reported.

Many Metro Detroit school districts canceled classes Friday, some before a single flake of snow had fallen. Closed districts include Anchor Bay, Berkley, Detroit, Novi, Walled Lake and West Bloomfield. And several cities declared snow emergencies including Garden City, Dearborn Heights and Romulus, requiring residents to keep cars off city streets.

Shatonya Terry, 51, of Oak Park, who was brushing off her car and letting her dog out to go to the bathroom Friday morning, said as a Michigan native, the snow doesn’t bother her, though she was surprised to see a storm forecast in March. She got up a little earlier so she could do what she needed to in the snow.

“I hope this is it," Terry said. "... But I’m a Michigan person, so I know what it’s about."

It’s not just thousands of Michigan students who got the day off on Friday due to the snow. As the snow fell, teachers and married couple Jennifer and William Dionne of Berkley were walking to their local coffee shop Friday morning ― a time they normally would be teaching in school.

“We are teachers and we have a snow day too,” said Jennifer who teachers at the International Academy in Macomb. Her husband William teachers at Royal Oak Schools.

What did they do with their day? A little of school work and a bit of home improvement.

“I will be grading papers,” said Jennifer, while William had plans to install flooring as part of a planned project in their upstairs home.

Business owner Troy Dirkse, meanwhile, was out shoveling snow around 8:30 a.m. as traffic whizzed by on 12 Mile Road in Berkley.

A plow was slated to clear the parking lot of his corner store, The Neighbor’s Shoppe, but Dirkse was out clearing the sidewalk and front entrance for customers coming by for sub sandwiches, cookies, craft beers and milk during the day.

“It’s not so bad out. We’ve only had a few storms this year,” Dirkse said. “It’s not as heavy as the last snow.”

The storm was the latest to hit southeast Michigan in recent weeks.

A March 3 storm dropped 6-10 inches of snow on much of the region, downing power lines and leaving about 200,000 DTE customers in the dark.

It contributed to at least one death. An 80-year-old Ann Arbor resident, Bahman Ashrafi, was killed after he was struck by a snow plow backing up in a driveway on the evening of March 3.

Ashrafi suffered "significant head trauma" and was transported to the University of Michigan Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The driver, a 58-year-old Ann Arbor man, had been plowing snow at the time of the incident and claimed he did not know he had hit someone until a bystander alerted him. The incident is still under investigation and the driver is cooperating, Ann Arbor police said Friday.

A historic ice storm, meanwhile, also hit Michigan Feb. 22-23, followed by another one days later. It downed roughly 11,000 power lines and nearly 1 million people lost electricity, with some staying in the dark for more than a week.

The Friday storm affected at least some flights at Detroit Metro Airport. There were 272 delays and 22 cancellations, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight arrivals and departures.

Road crews were busy plowing roads. The Road Commission for Oakland County called its crews in at midnight to salt and plow roads. It also urged drivers to travel with "extreme caution."