Snow, Winds Rake Upper Michigan; Tornado Hits East

Heavy snow and howling winds whipped up near-blizzard conditions Thursday in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and thunderstorms along the East Coast spawned a tornado that tore through downtown Remington, Va., ripping roofs off stores.

The National Weather Service posted a heavy snow warning for much of the Upper Peninsula, with as much as a foot of snow forecast in northwest sections. About eight inches of snow had fallen at Calumet, where strong winds pushed the wind chill factor to zero and created near-blizzard conditions.

In addition, snow fell over other Great Lakes states and the Cascade Mountains of Oregon and Washington. Chicago recorded its first snow of the season, but it was light and melted quickly, weather officials said.

Advisories for frost and freezing temperatures were in effect for Illinois, Indiana, north central Kentucky, western Ohio and northern Arkansas.

In Remington, store roofs and broken glass littered Main Street after the tornado hit Thursday afternoon.

“We were lucky,” Councilman Leo McCarthy said. “I think we got off real lucky. Nobody got hurt, nobody got killed. Most of the roofs are laying in Main Street.”

A tornado watch was posted for parts of Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington, D.C.