More than 50,000 without power across Michigan before strong storm begins

Even before high winds have kicked in from a strong incoming storm system, more than 50,000 homes and businesses were without power across Michigan.

The bulk of these outages are in Mid-Michigan. Clare County had the largest outage tally, with more than 16,000. Mecosta County had more than 7, 500 without power, and Isabella County had more than 6,000 out.

A couple counties in the very western Upper Peninsula were also reporting outages.

These outage numbers are expected to increase by early Monday, as high winds come in as part of this storm system. Sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph are expected, but wind gusts could top 60 mph in some areas.

The issue with the Mid-Michigan outages is rooted in Friday’s ice accumulation. Utility officials said there has been about a half-inch of ice accumulation on trees and power lines in that area through the weekend. Temperatures this weekend did not get warm enough to melt the ice, as they did in other areas. Heavy rain on Sunday froze again quickly, causing a heavier ice load and more outages.

Consumers Energy has said they have crews mobilized to work on outages as they arise with this storm.

To see the latest update on this storm coverage, follow our headlines on the MLive Weather page.