Tag Archives: snow

Cool off this summer with the Public Museum’s newest exhibits

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“Ice Age: Michgian’s Frozen Secrets” features how Michigan landscapes looked thousands of years ago. (Courtesy, Grand Rapids Public Museum)

By Adam Brown
WKTV Contributor

Have you ever wished to go back in time to the dawn of the Ice Age? Or look at the impacts of snow on a global scale? Now you can, with the Grand Rapids Public Museum’s new exhibits Ice Age: Michigan’s Frozen Secrets and Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact.

What Are the New Exhibits?

Set to run May 20 through Sept. 3, the new exhibits put a unique Michigan spin on global events. In addition, they continue the GRPM’s mission of educating the public through immersive and enriching displays. Of the GRPM’s new additions, Public Museum’s Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations Dustin Tyler noted, “Ice Age: Michigan’s Frozen Secrets and Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact are two incredibly unique and exciting exhibits that we are thrilled to bring to our community. We believe both exhibits will provide visitors with unforgettable educational experiences and inspire curiosity about Michigan’s history and the impact of snow on our environment.”

Ice Age: Michigan’s Frozen Secrets

Ice Age: Michigan’s Frozen Secrets localizes the historical period, focusing on modern-day West Michigan when prehistoric animals dominated the Earth. The exhibit depicts how the landscape looked thousands of years ago, with a chance to interact with some of the area’s native creatures. In addition, patrons can enjoy tactile experiences where they can handle actual fossilized bones and teeth from the era. The available bones come from a selection of a recently discovered mastodon in the Grand Rapids area.

Visitors will be able touch mastodon bones that were found in Grand Rapids. (Courtesy, Grand Rapids Public Museum)

In August 2022, mastodon bones were uncovered during a construction dig at the Grand Rapids property of Michael and Courtney Clapp. Wanting to keep the artifacts local and accessible to the public, the Clapps donated their namesake Clapp Family Mastodon to the Grand Rapids Public Museum. The recovered bones form the basis of the Ice Age exhibit. In this fully immersive experience, visitors are encouraged to touch and observe the bones and teeth, connecting them to the life of early humans in the area.

Though designed to supplement material learned in the classroom, Ice Age: Michigan’s Frozen Secrets is geared toward all ages, per GRPM Marketing Manager Sara Olsen. People naturally question what their home state might have looked like in the prehistoric era. This exhibit is designed to answer those burning questions by allowing museumgoers to physically interact with what came before.

Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact 

Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact takes the opposite route, looking at snow globally and how it impacts worldwide climate systems. No matter where we live, snow impacts us all. In this exhibit, patrons can examine all the ways this natural weather phenomenon affects the globe.

“Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact” will look at how snow impacts worldwide climate systems. (Courtesy, Grand Rapids Public Museum)

While new to the GRPM, Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact was initially developed by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon. Like the GRPM, the OMSI is devoted to fostering learning and curiosity in its visitors through interactive experiments, exhibits, and demonstrations for a younger, school-age demographic.

In Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact, guests answer one fundamental question. What is snow? An immersive digital snowstorm enables visitors to interact with snow crystals, examining how each is truly unique. While all ages may enjoy the exhibit, the tactile games make the experience especially rewarding for the younger crowd by allowing them to take an interactive role in the process, per Olson. Guests can also listen to oral histories about snow from elders and culture leaders of the Inupiaq tribes to supplement the interactive game. These elements seek to educate the public about the importance of snow in the worldwide climate system and how each tiny crystal has a global impact.

Despite differing scopes and content, the GRPM designed Ice Age: Michigan’s Frozen Secrets and Snow: Tiny Crystals, Global Impact to work in tandem with one another. Both offer glimpses into climate and weather patterns over time and allow patrons to interact with those patterns while building an understanding of the world around them.

 

Guests who purchase general admission tickets to the GRPM between May 20 and Sept. 3 can participate in the new exhibits, with free admission for those 17 and under. In addition, members can receive early access to the exhibits through an exclusive members only preview. Those interested may find information on museum hours and ticket prices at the GRPM’s official website.

Winter parking rules in Wyoming start this week

3-bottom, City of Wyoming, West Michigan, , ,

By Maggie Carey
WKTV Contributor

The City of Wyoming does blow its sidewalks after two or more inches of snow. (WKTV/Maggie Carey)

It’s that time of year again, the winter weather is back! With that, the City of Wyoming would like to remind residents of street parking rules and snowplowing guidelines to help keep the roads clear of snow in the winter time.

It is important to note that according to the city’s website, Wyoming has approximately 250 miles (or 600 lane-miles) of streets. 44th and 28th streets are the major streets with the most traffic, meaning they are prioritized and plowed first, then collector streets, and finally, residential streets and cul-de-sacs.

City of Wyoming Winter Parking

The odd-even ordinance is in effect from Dec. 1 (Thursday) to March 31. Ensuring cars are on the correct side of the street means quicker plow times and safer commutes for residents. If the ordinance is not followed, first time offenders can be warned or even given a ticket.

So, how does the ordinance work? Match the day with the street address. On odd days, park on the side of the street that contains odd addresses (those ending in 1,3,5,7,9). On even days, park on the side of the street that contains even addresses (those ending in 0,2,4,6,8). For those who live in cul-de-sacs, you may park on the street on even days.

 

Cars must be on the correct side of the street from midnight to 7 p.m. and residents are encouraged to move their cars to the correct side of the street between 7 p.m. and midnight.

Sidewalks and fire hydrants

Residents are asked to help keep fire hydrants clear of snow by their homes/businesses. Local fire department officials say that having hydrants clear of snow and ice saves firefighters time when dealing with a fire. It is recommended to keep three feet of area on all sides of the fire hydrant clear of snow and ice.

The city plows sidewalks at night after there has been two or more inches of snow. Residents are asked to keep the sidewalks clear of obstructions and items (trash cans, cars, signs, etc.) to help the City of Wyoming when plowing the sidewalks.  

More days of rain, snow predicted for this winter

3-bottom, City of Kentwood, City of Wyoming, Great Lakes, Kent County, ,

By Janelle James 
Capital News Service

Road commissions across the state are preparing for the winter months. (WKTV)

LANSING – Counties in northern Michigan are buying new equipment and hiring more full-time employees for an expected wetter-than-average winter.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently predicted that the Great Lakes region will have more frequent precipitation than usual this winter. This is caused by the phenomenon La Niña.

 

The same phenomenon means that the temperature in the Pacific Ocean is dropping, said Bryan Mroczka, a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Ann Arbor.

 

And lower temperatures in the ocean mean below-average temperatures in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions.

‘More will be coming from the sky’

“What we can expect is that there will be more precipitation than the long-term average,” Mroczka said.

In simpler terms, “over the whole winter period, more will come from the sky,” he said.

 

Although it is difficult to predict weather conditions for the entire season, during La Niña years “there may be more frequent days where you wake up and you have to brush the snow off of your car and more days where you’re driving to work in a little bit of snow,” Mroczka said.

Much of Michigan is expected to have average weather conditions.

 

But places like Sault Ste. Marie and Alpena are expected to have a severe winter, according to the accumulated winter season severity index by the Midwest Regional Climate Center in Indiana.

 

Some of the severe weather may be attributed to three consecutive years of La Nina conditions.

 

“This is kind of unprecedented,” said Austin Pearson, a climatologist at the center.

Expected conditions in the north

The National Weather Service has already reported snow near Marquette. Typically, the snow season spans from December to February, but it can come as early as October and as late as April, Pearson said.

 

Grand Traverse County, in the northwest part of the state, is already preparing.

“Our preparation for the next winter season happens at the end of the prior winter season,” said Jay Saksewski, the superintendent for the county’s road commission. County road workers began repairing equipment, ordering material and hiring personnel in April.

 

Last winter, the county lacked enough trained drivers to operate the snowplows, Saksewski said. It had only 26 drivers and relied on seasonal workers.

This year, it is going into this season with 30 full-time employees, he said.

 

The agency has also ordered three additional snowplows for the season.

 

“Typically we will bring three new trucks into the fleet,” Saksewski said. “At the same time, we’re obsoleting three trucks and putting those out for other agencies or private parties to buy.”

The UP is getting ready

Within the last three years, the Leelanau County Road Commission has had to order more salt because of how often it snowed.

 

“Our average snowfall is 120 inches and last year it was closer to 100 inches, but it snowed almost every day,” said Brendan Mullane, the managing director for the commission.

 

He is also hiring more drivers. The commission has 26 full-time drivers and six seasonal drivers. The amount of snow that is expected doesn’t affect those hiring decisions.

 

“It doesn’t really matter if we get a foot of snow or 2 inches of snow, we still have to drive the routes no matter what to get to all of the corners of our county,” Mullane said.

And here at home, what to expect

The Kent County Road Commission is warning drivers to allow more time for morning commutes, have good tires and watch the overnight weather forecast for severe snow, said Jerry Byrne, the superintendent for the agency.

  

“We work with our partners in law enforcement to help educate folks,” Byrne said.

The wintry projections aren’t all bad news. Tourists looking to go skiing or dog-sledding in the Upper Peninsula can count on La Niña to make it happen. 

The region’s economy is based on snow, said Tom Nemacheck, the executive director for Upper Peninsula Travel, a group that promotes tourism.

“It’s absolutely phenomenal for the U.P.,”  Nemacheck said. “It’s the best thing that happens for us in the wintertime.”

ABOUT JANELLE JAMES

Janelle James is a senior at Michigan State University double majoring in journalism and political science with a minor in Spanish. Janelle aspires to one day secure a position as an investigative journalist, White House correspondent or politician.

Traffic Tuesday Answer: Fender Benders

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By Office Jenni Eby
Wyoming Department of Public Safety

This week’s Traffic Tuesday question focused on accidents and what information to collect.

During snowstorms when there are a lot of minor crashes and long police response times, drivers are sometimes “ordered in” to the police department after a crash. That means that if both vehicles are driveable and no one is injured, the drivers are asked to exchange information and come in to the police department to make a crash report on another day. What information do you need to exchange for both drivers?

  1. Only driver names
  2. Only names and phone numbers
  3. Only names, phone numbers, and vehicle information
  4. Names, phone numbers, vehicles information, and insurance information
  5. I’m not sure, I’ll check back on Thursday!

The answer is 4) Names, phone numbers, vehicle descriptions and insurance information.

Make sure to get the first and last name of the other driver, their phone number, the name of their insurance company and the policy number, and the vehicle description. Remember CYMBAL for the vehicle description: Color, year, make/model, body style (2 door/4 door/pickup/van, etc), additional (damage, bumper stickers, things that make it unique), and license plate number.

Snowmen invade Grand Haven as part of fun February event

Entertainment, ,
Grand Haven Main Street hosts a Build a Snowman contest Feb. 13 – 20. (Photo from Pxhere)

By Vicki Ellis
Grand Haven Main Street

Grand Haven Main Street invites the community to Build a Snowman on Main Street! Snowmen on Main Street is a new event created by Grand Haven Main Street’s promotions committee that showcases the talents of Snowman building at its finest throughout the Main Street District.

Snowmen on Main Street is a new community contest that allows you to express your snowman making talents without using snow (they do have a snowmelt system, after all)! You may enter individually or as a team. Your snowman can be made out of any type of material, though it will be displayed outside, so use weather resistant materials where possible. Your snowman can be 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional. What you create is up to you. Each snowman that is delivered to Grand Haven Main Street on February 10 will be attached to the light posts up & down Washington Avenue (Harbor to Beacon) and along 7th (Washington to Beacon).

“We are ecstatic to be welcoming a new winter event in 2021, Snowmen on Main. Community driven events like these are what bonds our local communities together and drives our Main Street businesses forward,” Grand Haven Main Street Executive Director Jeremy Swiftney stated. “Grab your materials, you and your team, get creative, and stop by to enjoy the historic main street district as the year round destination our community needs.”

The competition will begin on Saturday, Feb. 13, and run through Saturday, Feb. 20. The community is invited to come to Grand Haven Main Street throughout the week and vote for their favorite snowman.

There will be a first place Juried Award and a first place People’s Choice Award – each will win a trophy and bragging rights.

Grand Haven Main Street presents Snowmen on Main Street so…


– Choose your team

– Pick up, complete & return the registration form* by Feb. 1

– Create your vision

– Build your snowman

– Deliver your snowman to GHMS no later than 2/10 (519 Washington Avenue 9am—12noon)

*Registration is posted on Facebook and www.ghdowntown.com

With more cold temperatures, snow, residents encouraged to stay off the roads

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Video of a Jan. 9, 2015 150-plus car pile up on I-94.

By Joanne Bailey-Boorsma
joanne@wktv.org

Random white out conditions and the coldest day since 1994 have created some icy road conditions for most of West Michigan, which is why area police are encouraging residents to stay home.

While three of the area highways, I-96, US 131, and M-6, were shut down at various times yesterday, the Jan. 9, 2015 150-plus car pile up on I-94 remains one of the largest in the state’s history. That accident took place between Battle Creek and Galesburg. There were explosions as fireworks carried on trucks ignited and fires burned, however; only one person was killed in the 2015 accident.

Area police are not interested in seeing a repeat of the I-94 accident and have encouraged residents to not go out if it is not necessary. In fact, schools to business, including Woodland Mall, were closed Wednesday due to the weather conditions, which according to the National Weather Service will continue through Thursday.

The National Weather Service website states we should expect snow showers with rapid changes to visibility (near zero at times), intense bursts of snow, gusty winds, and snow and ice-covered roads. Temperatures will be dangerously cold, with wind chills tonight through Thursday morning between -20 and -40 below. These low temperatures can cause frostbite in under 10 minutes and hypothermia.

Last night I-96, US 131, and M-6 were closed due to accidents. All had accidents involving more than 20 cars with Kent County Sheriff officers stating drivers were not aware of accidents on the expressways and when they came upon them, were not able to stop.

The Kent County Sheriff’s Department has told drivers if they are out, to slow down, keep a space between you and the car in front of you, and be prepared for whiteout conditions.

From the National Weather Service website

The National Weather Service advises that in whiteout conditions:

  • Drivers drive with low beam or fog lights on to avoid reflection from snow and ice
  • If you have to pull over, try to find an exit or a parking lot, do not stop in a traffic lane or along the shoulder
  • Be patient and avoid changing lanes too often
  • Slow down
  • Keep your windows and mirrors clear to maximize visibility.
From the National Weather Service website


It is advised that residents make sure to check business and doctor offices to confirm that they are open before heading out on the roads. Some schools, such as Byron Center and Kentwood Public Schools, already have announced they will be closed on Thursday, Jan. 31. Grand Rapids Public Schools will be closed Thursday, Jan. 31, and Friday, Feb. 1.

Lastly, be prepared for an emergency on the road. Take extra blankets or a sleeping bag, food, water, a flashlight, make sure your phone is fully charged, and that your gas tank is full. Condensation can form in an empty gas tank and in the current cold temperatures that can freeze putting ice in your fuel lines and cause no-start conditions.

Also, here are some snowy street tips from the cities of Wyoming and Kentwood.


With Winter Finally Here, Keep Those Sidewalks Clean!

Our Cities, Weather, , , ,

ci wyoming snow plowsIt took awhile, but Michigan finally decided it was time to let winter out of the basement and into the living room. With winter comes a barrage of snow that accumulates because of our trusted old friend Lake Michigan and its gift of ‘lake effect’ weather.

 

With snow comes the need to keep our roads and sidewalks plowed in order to keep citizen traffic flowing smoothly. A snow shoveled sidewalk keeps citizens walking on the sidewalks and off of the roads. It’s going to be a team effort to keep the sidewalks snow free this winter.

 

In the City of Wyoming, the City has a contractor hired to keep the sidewalks cleared. However, if there aren’t at least two inches of snowfall by 10 p.m., the contractor has to wait until the morning to start clearing. During that time the snow can get packed down, making it difficult to clear.

 

While the City does hire a service to clear the roads and sidewalks, it’s also up to the citizens and the business owners to do their part to keep the sidewalks cleared! Even if you don’t use the sidewalks, your neighbors might, and it’s your responsibility to make sure your portion of the sidewalk is snow free!

 

Take pride in your sidewalk and help make the City of Wyoming a safer place this winter.