A blizzard warning was posted for Keweenaw, Houghton, Ontonagon, Baraga, Marquette and Alger countie, with a winter storm warning for Gogebic, Iron and Dickinson counties. The rest of the U.P. was under a winter advisory warning.

“One-day total our snowfall is 15.8 inches, right now we are at 10,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Lily Chapman. “I’ve got several more inches for the rest of today and the night so it could be a record. But that remains to be seen.”

More than 150 businesses, schools, churches and government offices were closed across the central U.P. Many churches continued to have their Ash Wednesday services online if they couldn’t have it in person.

The freezing rain, heavy snow and blizzard conditions have caused road conditions to be hazardous. The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office urged the public to only travel for emergencies, to try keeping roads clear for emergency vehicles and UPPCO power line repair trucks.

At right, the snow just keeps on falling in the city of Ishpeming Wednesday. (Journal photo by Justin Marietti)

More than 300 power outages were reported in Palmer around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, 402 outages reported in National Mine around 10:37 a.m. At 12:38 p.m. more than 400 power outage reports came from Copper Harbor and Eagle Harbor. Far more were reported Wednesday.

The storm is expected to continue through this morning, with a blizzard warning active until at least 1 a.m.

Yet the days to come have warm weather in store, potentially making this the last blizzard of the winter.

“So we do have lake effects lingering the rest of (Wednesday night) but that really tapers off for (this) morning,” said Chapman. “For the most part, most of the U.P. should be drying out, even turning sunny. We are actually looking at a warmup through the weekend.

“By Sunda,y we have highs at the upper 30s and lower 40s. By early next week we can even get up to the 50s. A pretty quick turnaround.”

Antonio Anderson can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. His email address is