TRAVERSE CITY -- A fountain of fluff shot from the muzzle of David Weeks' snowblower as he carved away at a thick blanket of snow in front of Central United Methodist Church.
Weeks, a maintenance worker at the Traverse City church, wasn't fazed as he dealt with winter's latest blast Monday morning. A quick-moving storm dumped 8 inches in Traverse City and as much as 16 inches in neighboring Leelanau County Sunday evening, weather officials said.
"Well, it's northern Michigan, you know. I've seen ice storms as late as late April," Weeks said. "We never know what's going to happen. We keep gas in the blower, salt stocked and we're prepared for the worst."
A short distance away on a residential block of State Street, Jackie Parker stepped out to do a bit of shoveling and snap a few pictures under a brilliant blue sky and bright sunshine.
"I love the way it coats the trees. It's just beautiful," Parker said. "It's nostalgia to me, that's the way I see it, especially with the older houses."
Leelanau County 911 dispatch logs show a nonstop barrage of stuck vehicles beginning about 8 p.m. Sunday. Even a few Leelanau County Road Commission truck drivers were snowed in when it came time to get to work at about 4 a.m. Monday.
"We had a couple of drivers we had to go get; they couldn't get here either," commission Manager Herb Cradduck said.
A full corps of drivers had the county's roads mostly clean by Monday afternoon, Cradduck said. Heavy, wet snow presented a challenge, but warmth and sunshine later in the day helped break up the snow pack.
The storm closed most area school districts, giving children the opportunity to get outside and play. Annie Gerstner, 10, and her friend Samantha Neddo, 12, helped Annie's dad Eric Gerstner shovel snow in front of their Traverse City home early Monday.
"My son Jacob checked the news at six o'clock; he was the first to know," Eric Gerstner said.
Forecasters don't expect much more in terms of snow this week, but more nasty weather could be around the corner. A front heading in this afternoon could bring rain and wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour through Wednesday, said Gaylord-based National Weather Service Meteorologist John Boris.
"The winds are really going to get kicking," Boris said. "It's going to be a pretty big blow when that cold front moves in here."
Weather for the weekend should be dry with highs in the low-to-mid 40s and lows in the mid 20s.
Snowfall totals
Winter 2008-09 snow totals throughout the region, in inches:
Traverse City: 115.8
Maple City: 172.9
Ellsworth: 168.4
Kalkaska: 190.1
Frankfort: 111.6
Kingsley: 172.4
Gaylord: 170.1
Charlevoix: 142.1
Petoskey: 129.2
Note: Data provided by the National Weather Service. Maple City's total does not include snow from Sunday's storm, which hadn't yet been reported Monday afternoon.
