Shiawassee County Michigan

On the weekend of December 21st-22nd 2013, a large weather system effected the United States. Tornadoes effected the deep south, fast snowmelt and heavy rains caused flooding in the Ohio Valley, and then two somewhat seperate ice storms occured, with Oklahoma being hit hard early in the event, and Michigan/Ontario being hit the next evening/night

Most of the forecast for this system were pretty spot on, outside of the ice event here in SE Michigan being slightly more West-East oriented, and also north of where it was predicted to be. This cut down snow totals for parts of Mid-Michigan, but the ice is what the main story was.

Along the I-69 corridor and to the north, some of the hardest hit areas were Ingham/Shiawassee/Genesee/Lapeer Counties. I ventured out to Shiawassee County Sunday Morning, where a State of Emergency was declared to due travel conditions – not for slick roads, but mostly due to the fact that roads were covered in power lines, trees, and branches. Areas along this corridor received about .5-.75″ of ice accumulation.

You can find more information about the event from the NWS Detroit office HERE.

Below are photos from Shiawassee County, as I was one of the first few in to get some decent pictures with a somewhat high quality camera. Also included is a brief video driving. If you listen closely, you can hear tree branches snapping and crashing to the ground in the background.