Winter Storm — Branch, Michigan

2007-12-01 to 2007-12-02 · Branch, Michigan

Event narrative

A brief burst of light to moderate snow, mixed at times with sleet during the evening hours switched over to freezing rain into the early morning hours of the 2nd. Ice accumulations of a tenth to quarted inch coated trees, power lines and roads. More than 2 dozen slide offs and accidents were reported in and around the Coldwater area. The most serious accident occurred on southbound I-69 near Pearl Road, where a van carrying a number of people careened off the road. One person was killed and 7 others suffered varying injuries with some of injured being ejected from the van. Some power outages as winds of 15 to 25 mph caused some power lines to break.

Wider weather episode

Warm air pushed north across far southern Lower Michigan allowing temperatures above the surface to climb above freezing. However surface temperatures remained in the middle to upper 20s. Several rounds of precipitation moved in, first starting as snow and sleet then quickly changing to freezing rain with several locations seeing ice accumulations of over a quarter inch.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 61609. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.