Fenton Sees First Snow of the Season

The first snow of the season dropped on Fenton Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

It allowed Kelton Alie, who was visiting family from Dominica in the West Indies, to touch snow for the very first time. He liked it so much he and Fenton resident Adam Postal built a snowman.

“The snow is beautiful,” Alie said. “I like to feel it."

Alie who recently got engaged to Julie Cieszkowski, of Hartland, had been in Michigan since Nov. 10 and waiting patiently to encounter the snow. He added the coolest weather he felt is his homeland is about 70 degrees.

He was surprised at how heavy the snow was.

“He had never seen it, so we started walking during the storm last night,” Postal said. “It was perfect packing snow.”

Fenton received between four and six inches of snow, enough to keep Russ Milne of Pzarka Enterprises, an outdoor service company, busy all night and morning. He drove a snowplow all morning, starting around 1 a.m. in Livonia and making his way to the Fenton United Methodist Church to clear the parking lot around 9 a.m.

“I’m ready to go to sleep,” he said.

employees were also hard at work. Director Dan Czarnecki said crews began plowing and salting around 9 p.m. Tuesday and stayed out until 2 a.m. Wednesday, before going home to get some rest. They went back out early Wednesday morning.

“The first time is always difficult,” Czarnecki said.  “Just like drivers we have to remember what we do. We have issues, but overall we got things cleaned up.”

It appears the crews must have done a decent job as Chief Rick Aro said only one accident was reported in the city limits.  A car was damaged in a one-car accident on U.S. 23 South near Owen Road around 6:40 a.m., but there were no injuries.

There is a 50 percent chance of snow on Thursday night and a 20 percent chance Friday morning before 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.

Consumers spokeswoman Debra Dodd said the snow knocked out power to 1,352 customers in Genesee County, including 137 in Fenton. She said power is expected to be restored before midnight Wednesday.

Some Fenton residents were ready for the snow and posted their thoughts and the Fenton Patch Facebook page.

Derek Mikolajczyk posted, "Snowboarding how I've missed thee."

Jen Grevel Emmons joked, "It will finally make all these snowmen and Santas on my mantle make sense!"

Nicole Fishback said,  "I'm so happy I love snow. My feeling is if its going to be cold might as well have snow."

Others weren't as enthused.

John Nicholson posted, "I wouldn't dread it as much if everyone remembered how to drive in it (myself included). It's funny how we all forget to drive in snow, and we do it every single year.