Finally.
Glazed like a doughnut, a thin shell of ice covered East Lansing on Sunday night, ushering in winter weather. But the highly anticipated ice storm arrived with a rumble, not a roar.
"It's been surprisingly quiet," said East Lansing police Sgt. Mark Vande Wouwer on the turmoil created by icy roadways. "We were thinking maybe it was so bad that people might have just slowed down enough to avoid accidents."
More likely, he said, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend is the cause of the response to the winter storm. Vande Wouwer said two accidents were reported Monday afternoon, an average to low amount for any Monday.
"Thank God a lot of things are closed for MLK Day," he said. "I would imagine, if it was a normal Monday with normal traffic, there would be a lot more accident reports."
The ice storm warning's bark proved worse than its bite for the area, but National Weather Service Meteorologist Walt Felver said areas south of the county felt Old Man Winter's sting.
"It's pretty bad in Jackson," Felver said. "There are thousands without power. They've got trees down across the roads all across the county. It's very icy down there."
About 25,000 Jackson residents are without power, compared with about 150 Lansing residents, a Consumers Energy news release reported Monday afternoon. A total of about 47,000 residents are without power throughout Michigan.
Colder temperatures are slated to follow the 26 degree high felt Monday, Felver said. Single digits are predicted for tonight, but temperatures will warm to the upper 20s Wednesday, he said.
Reports may be lower than expected, but psychology and Spanish junior Ambar Castro experienced the winter weather in a less than desirable way — with a car accident.
On a bridge in Lansing, Castro said the car she was riding in slid to the side and was hit by two cars that couldn't stop. No one was hurt.
"They just couldn't control the cars," said Castro, a New Jersey native.
Lansing police Sgt. Dave Dahlke said taking it slow is the best precaution drivers can take on icy roads.
"The common thing for icy roads is always, if you don't have to drive, don't. Just stay home unless you really have to go out," Dahlke said. "Of course, everyone will ignore that, and so the big thing is to just slow down."
Dahlke also said to be on the lookout for drivers who don't have complete control of their vehicles. Vande Wouwer, of East Lansing's Police Department, said to avoid turning while braking on icy roads.
The late winter start has led a few residents to grit their teeth and anticipate a belated spring.
"It's terrible. Completely random," dietetics junior Nicole Foote said. "I thought we weren't really going to have a winter. It should've happened over break, now I think it's going to be cold during spring break."
