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December 14, 2004 Record-Eagle/Douglas Tesner Jim Turner pulls his daughter Jade, 3, up the hill at Hannah Park on Sixth Street in Traverse City.
Winter blows in with a vengeanceSeason begins yet againByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Expect more. The National Weather Service reported that up to 8 inches of snow fell in parts of Grand Traverse County from dusk Sunday through Monday night. Sustained winds of 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 45 mph created wind chills of 5 to 15 degrees above zero. And more is on its way right up till Christmas.  Record-Eagle/ Douglas Tesner Emily Blackburn bundled up for her walk across F&M Park in the bitter cold. "I don't know if we're ever ready for winter no matter how late it comes," said Sarah Adams of Interlochen. "I look out the window in the morning and just say 'Yuck.' " Mason Kevin Vendeville, who was heating stones with a propane torch, said he would have liked one more day of 40-degree weather. Vendeville and his partner spent Monday finishing up stone porch supports for a Webster Street home. "This is the last outside job we have, the rest are all sheltered," Vendeville said. "At least we'll have a little snow for Christmas, and that's not a bad thing if you can't be in Florida." Mail carrier Debbie Tallent has been ready for winter's arrival for the last few weeks. She had all of her winter clothing laid out. "We've got to get the mail out because there's more coming, it's a heavy time of year," she said referring to the holiday season. It's not just more mail residents can expect. "Winter is here and it looks like it's going to be around for a while," said meteorologist John Boris with the National Weather Service in Gaylord. Light and patchy snow today should be followed by a dry Wednesday before a series of winter storms similar to Monday's pelts the area almost to Christmas, Boris said. The trend will be colder than general with more lake-effect snow. Monday's storm led to the first snow day for Traverse City Area Public Schools. Superintendent Jim Pavelka said main roads weren't bad, but buses travel subdivisions and secondary roads, which were slippery. "With winds of 20 to 30 mph, visibility was poor and our buses make a lot of stops," Pavelka said. The Grand Traverse County Road Commission pulled its crews out of subdivisions Monday and put them back on the main roads and state highways because of blowing snow, facilities superintendent Jim Valade said. "Everything is still snow-covered and slippery even though we've been out all day," he said. High winds at Cherry Capital Airport canceled one flight, but the main airstrip was clear. "That north wind just cuts up anything that might have been on the airstrips' surface," airport manager Steve Cassens said. The new terminal at the airport has 16 additional acres to plow for airplanes, and new snow removal equipment has yet to arrive. Cassens said crews are managing because earlier light snows provided practice sessions before winter's first serious storm.
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