BY alex piazza
Traverse City -- A few inches of snow doesn't scare Joe Donkers.
"I've seen snow higher than an 18-wheeler," he said. "I was born here, so I'm used to Michigan winters."
But Donkers, 60, of Traverse City, likely will see more than a few inches of snow on the ground Wednesday.
The National Weather Service station in Gaylord issued a winter storm warning in effect tonight through Thursday morning across northern Michigan. The storm is expected to dump at least six inches of new snow on Traverse City.
Donkers spent about three hours blowing snow from driveways Monday, and made sure to gas up his red snowblower in preparation for the midweek storm.
Between the storm and lake-effect snow, some northern Michigan communities could see between 8 and 14 inches of snowfall over the next few days, NWS meteorologist Brian Adam said.
"You'll get a real big hit of heavy snow, and then you get a break," Adam said. "It's kind of like a 1-2 punch."
Wind gusts between 30 and 40 mph Wednesday night could cause excessive snow drifts, Adam said.
Joe Lada shoveled less than an inch of snow covering his driveway Monday.
Lada, 76, of Traverse City, said he plans to shovel throughout the day Wednesday, if the forecast is accurate.
"If I'm here, I try to keep it down during the day," he said.
Lada hopes that by continually shoveling his driveway, the snow eventually will melt. But as temperatures continue to fall below freezing, Adam said the snow likely will stick around into next week.
"It's a very good bet we'll see about a foot of snow by the end of the week," Adam said.
But having lived in Michigan, Lada's grown accustomed to the routine of shoveling snow.
"I don't worry about the snow unless we got 30 inches," he said.
There's already 3 to 5 inches of snow on the ground in the Traverse City area, and the midweek storm will likely create more dangerous driving conditions. NWS meteorologists expect visibilities will drop to a quarter-mile or less Wednesday.
"With some of that heavy stuff, you can expect a few hundred feet (of visibility)," Adam said.
The first few snowstorms of the year typically create a large number of traffic crashes as drivers adjust, police said. The Grand Traverse Sheriff's Department alone handled about 70 traffic crashes from Thursday through Monday morning, Sheriff Tom Bensley said.
Staff Writer Art Bukowski contributed to this report.
