Utility crews across Wisconsin worked through Sunday to restore electricity to thousands of customers after a powerful weekend storm swept through the Great Lakes region, toppling power lines and dumping heavy, wet snow. More than 6,000 outages were reported statewide, with over half concentrated in the Milwaukee and South Milwaukee areas. In some communities, residents described sagging power lines weighed down by snow, while others lost electricity while attempting to dig out from accumulating drifts. In western Michigan, the storm’s impact was so disruptive that hundreds of churches urged worshippers to stay home or attend services online, as snowfall near Lake Michigan reached as much as 12 inches in some locations.
Meanwhile, travel disruptions stretched across multiple states as hazardous winter conditions continued to snarl transportation. The Des Moines airport remained closed Sunday morning on one of the busiest travel days of the holiday season after a regional passenger jet slid off an icy runway the night before while landing from Detroit. No injuries were reported, and passengers were safely bused to the terminal. Elsewhere in Iowa, strong winds continued to blow snow back onto cleared roadways, renewing dangerous driving conditions. Farther east, forecasters warned that the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast would see a wintry mix of rain and snow, with heavier accumulations likely limited to higher elevations.