TRAVERSE CITY — More than 2,100 Leelanau County residents were without power this morning after an overnight storm accompanied by 40 mph winds knocked down trees and power lines.
Terry DeDoes, Consumers Energy spokesman, said a majority of the power outages occurred around 2 a.m. throughout the Grand Traverse region.
"A majority of the customers are expected to be on by midnight Thursday," DeDoes said.
All power in the Grand Traverse region should be restored by Friday, he said.
In Grand Traverse County, 431 residents lost power and another 275 residents in Kalkaska County were in the dark this morning.
More than 50,000 Michigan residents were without power at 8 a.m., DeDoes said, but more than 10,000 of those customers had their power restored by 10:15 a.m.
The National Weather Service station in Gaylord issued a high wind advisory for the Grand Traverse region at 2 a.m.
The highest recorded wind gust was 41 mph at Cherry Capital Airport in Traverse City around 3 a.m., said Jeff Lutz, NWS meteorologist.
"Typically you don't start seeing widespread damage of healthy trees until you get near 60 mph," Lutz said.
This morning's wind gusts were not associated with thunderstorm activity. Rather, a cold front moved up from southern Michigan and created a low-pressure system.
"We're getting to that time of season when those cold fronts comes through and we get those winds around 40 mph," Lutz said.
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