Published: December 09, 2009 11:36 am      

11 am: Storm whacks northern Michigan

TRAVERSE CITY — The first major winter snowstorm dropped between 6 and 9 inches on the region overnight, but forecasters said the worst should be over.

The heaviest snow from the system fell between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. today, with some areas reporting near-zero visibility and as much as five inches of snow within those hours, said Mike Boguth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Gaylord.

By 9 a.m., nearly 6 inches of snow had fallen in Traverse City, 4.5 inches in Alba, 9 inches in Lake Ann and 8 inches in Maple City, Boguth said.

The rest of the day should bring varying periods of light and moderate snowfall, he said, and winds should begin to pick up by 4 p.m.

About 40 Cherryland Electric customers were without power by about 10:40 a.m., according to the utility. No Traverse City Light & Power customers lost power, and only eight Consumers Energy customers in Antrim County were in the dark, a spokesman said.

Mitch Mitchem spent his morning stocking shovels and snow scoops at Ace Hardware at Chum’s Corner south of Traverse City.

The wall that houses them was nearly empty this morning. It had been full the day before.

“People were in last night buying snow shovels, salt, all the good stuff,” said Mitchem, a team leader at the store. “Preparing for all the light snow we’re going to get.”