News

Community prepares for messy wind, rain and snow mix expected in metro Detroit

Posted at 12:22 AM, Jan 09, 2024
and last updated 2024-01-09 00:22:33-05

ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Last December was unseasonably warm in Michigan but finally, heavy snow is expected to hit our area Tuesday morning and continue throughout the rest of the week.

Some areas could see up to 4 inches of snow, which is why the preparations started ahead of time.

“It started actually probably Saturday evening. We started getting a lot of people coming in here looking for the salt, the shovels and ice melters,” Frentz & Son’s Hardware co-owner Mike Frentz said.

Frentz says in previous years, they already would’ve almost sold out on all the winter essentials, but this winter season has actually been slow before this week.

“Hopefully, this next two weeks we’ll move some of this stuff out,” Frentz said.

DTE Energy is preparing too.

“We've been following the weather system for some time and while we aren't anticipating a large-scale outage, we are ready to respond to any outages that occur,” said Bill Hutchinson, the director of Emergency Preparedness and Response at DTE.

The predicted wind, rain and snow mix could make things messy for everyone, and it’s important to stay extra vigilant.

“What it's looking like right now is that the heavy snow combined with the winds that you had mentioned may bring trees or branches down, which can cause them to land on our wires,” Hutchinson said.

Fretnz said, “Might be a line up outside, but we’ll be here.”