Places where you can beat the heat for cheap
You can stay cool and entertained at a lot of indoor locations that might not come to mind as quickly as a pool or the beach.
Michigan’s two largest utilities scrambled to reconnect utility lines brought down in storms in which 60-70 mph winds mowed down trees throughout the state Tuesday, leaving, at one point, more than 365,000 Michigan residents in the dark.
By about 6 a.m. Wednesday, there were still more than 320,000 customers without power.
It was unclear when power would be restored or how Michiganders would keep cool Wednesday, with temperatures forecasted to be hot and muggy again. Temperatures are expected to be in the upper 80s. But with the humidity, it could feel like it was in the low to mid 90s.
Several school districts reportedly announced closings and delays, including Ann Arbor, Clarkston, Eastpointe, Farmington, Fowlerville, Imlay City, Royal Oak, Southfield, Waterford and Ypsilanti.
“We had a significant, severe weather event that rolled through Michigan,” Steve Freitag, a National Weather Service meteorologist in White Lake Township, told the Free Press early Wednesday. He added that the damage reports were still coming in. “There’s a 35% chance of a thunderstorm during the day.”
The weather — which spawned the damaging winds and triggered a heat advisory and tornado sirens in southeast Michigan — was no doubt the story of the day Tuesday, and a reminder why the weather service exists, to protect lives. The federal agency said that fortunately, in metro Detroit, no tornadoes touched down.
But there were severe storms in the morning, then oppressive heat that felt like 100 degrees or more, which led to weather warnings and school closings in the afternoon, and then more thunderstorms, which crackled and took out even more power lines in the evening.
More: 365,000 without power in Michigan after severe storms, scorching heat
In addition to the power outages, winds damaged homes and other structures. Flooding closed roadways. And out of commission traffic signals led to chaos at intersections.
“We appreciate people’s patience as Tuesday’s storms caused devastation on one of this summer’s hottest days,” Norm Kapala, and official with Consumers Energy said early Wednesday, adding it still had 120,000 customers in the dark. “Our focus now is to get the lights back on.”
The Jackson-based public utility promised to hand out free water and ice in Rockland and Midland.
DTE, Michigan’s other large utility, was hit even harder when storms swept through metro Detroit, with more than 203,000 customers without power, nearly 80,000 in Oakland County alone. It said it was “bringing in 800 line workers from outside our area to help speed restoration.”
Longer term, climate scientists have said, they are concerned that human-caused climate change is leading to hotter and more volatile weather patterns globally, which, over time, could turn Tuesday’s weather into something that occurs even more regularly.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.