Elliot Glendon, 4, of Marquette, checks the mail at her home on Friday as a winter storm looms. High winds and large snow totals made the Christmas weekend a memorable one. It left thousands of people without power Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. (Photo courtesy of Keith Glendon)

By Journal staff

MARQUETTE — Wintery weather disrupted the Christmas holiday across the Upper Peninsula, including causing thousands of power outages in the eastern U.P.

Many church services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were canceled or postponed due to a combination of snow accumulations and whiteout conditions caused by high winds.

In the western U.P., the Gogebic County Sheriff’s Office reported on its Facebook page that wrecker and towing services were unable to keep up with the vehicles stuck in roadways, cars in ditches and accidents over the weekend.

According to the National Weather Service, light snow began moving into the area Wednesday, and by 7 a.m. Sunday, some areas saw more than 3 feet of accumulation.

Winter Storm Elliott covered a large portion of the U.S., making travel over the holiday treacherous.

In the eastern U.P., the storm system brought high winds and heavy snowfall, particularly in the DeTour and Drummond Island areas.

Heavy snow weighed down trees on power lines, causing outages that started early Friday morning and peaked at 2,300 meters offline Saturday morning, a Cloverland Electric Cooperative press release stated.

Cloverland restored power to all accessible locations by 9:30 p.m. on Christmas Day. Cumulatively, crews restored over 9,000 outages caused by Winter Storm Elliott.

Nearly 12 inches of snow was reported by the NWS Negaunee station on Christmas Day, falling just an inch short of the 2001 record of 13 inches.

High winds, reaching up to 45 miles per hour on Friday into Christmas Eve, caused power outages throughout the U.P.

Outages continued to fluctuate on Christmas Day as heavy snows and wind persisted across the region. Cloverland reported about 80 locations on Neebish Island were not accessible due to road conditions — crews will resume restoration efforts when roads are safe to travel. A handful of seasonal locations on Drummond Island remained off overnight Sunday.

Cloverland Electric reminds its members to stay clear of any downed lines in your area and report them by dialing 911 or calling your local power company.