WX: Governor declares State of Emergency in Michigan

Action opens up resources for helping residents

By: Julie Lotz

LANSING (WLNS) -- Late Monday night, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an order declaring a state of emergency in Michigan. A new release said she will file the paperwork Tuesday morning with the Secretary of State's office to make it official.

The governor says the order is necessary to help address threats to public health and safety related to the frigid weather that will blanket the state with sub-zero temperatures over the next few days.

A State of Emergency declaration helps provide financial support and other resources to help prevent or alleviate damages, loss, hardship or suffering.

Governor Whitmer stated that keeping Michiganders safe during the dangerously cold temperatures is the top priority.

“Such widespread, extreme conditions have not occurred in Michigan for many years and it is imperative that we are proactive with record-low temperatures being predicted by the National Weather Service. Wind chills are predicted as low as 50 degrees below zero in many places, such as metro Detroit which is especially unaccustomed to these temps.”

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https://www.wlns.com/news/governor-declares-state-of-emergency-in-michigan/1734190976

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I retired from Grand Valley State University in 2015, but I'm still connected to their text messaging system. As expected, the University was closed yesterday, but I just got a text message saying that they are closed today and tomorrow, too. That's extraordinary. I don't think they closed for more than two days during the Blizzard of 1978. I don't ever recall GVSU closing for three days in a row. I started out there as a student in 1973, and stayed until 2015. (No, not all that time as a student, lol. I was a work study student helping my supervisor write grants and I actually managed to write myself a job.)

I live in Lansing now and the winds are going to be so strong that they say we'll get some lake effect snow even this far away from Lake Michigan, and that wind chills tomorrow could go as low as -50F. Stay inside if you can! And true to Michigan weather, it's forecast to be 42F and rain on Sunday, sigh. Not good for ice jams and river flooding.

Stay safe, everyone!