Heavy, Wet Snow Causes Problems In Mich, Ind

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Heavy, wet snow knocked out electrical service to thousands of customers and snarled morning traffic Monday in northern Indiana and southeast Michigan.

The National Weather Service said up to 7 inches of snow fell in the Detroit area and northern Indiana got at least 4 inches.

Michigan's CMS Energy Corp. and DTE Energy Co. and Indiana's Indiana Michigan Power said about 79,000 of their customers were blacked out as the weight of the snow snapped branches and power lines.

Indiana State Police reported numerous slide-off accidents on the Indiana Toll Road, but no serious injuries.

The weather also put a damper on baseball's opening day. The Kansas City Royals game in Chicago against the White Sox was postponed due to a snowy forecast and the Tampa Bay Rays' game in Boston was postponed because of expected rain and wind.

The snow was produced by a storm that swept across the Plains during the weekend, closing highways Saturday in parts of Wyoming and western Nebraska. Wind piled snow into drifts up to 7 feet high in parts of western Nebraska.

Iowa got as much as 10 inches Sunday.

The storm's system's rotation pulled cold air into the South on Monday and the weather service issued freeze warnings from Texas and Oklahoma to West Virginia, with tornado watches posted for parts of the Carolinas and Virginia. The storm system produced severe thunderstorms Sunday in Kentucky and Tennessee.

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Information from: South Bend Tribune, http://www.southbendtribune.com