News Photo by Steve Schulwitz An Alpena snow plow spreads salt on Second Avenue in downtown Alpena on Tuesday. Snow plow drivers were busy maintaining roads that were accumulating ice from the freezing rain and sleet that swept through the area, forcing many closures and cancellations.

ALPENA — Freezing rain, sleet, and snow on Tuesday forced snow plow drivers into action to keep the roads passable, but the bad weather still wreaked havoc in Northeast Michigan.

The hazardous weather in the area forced closures and cancellations Tuesday as the weather deteriorated as the day moved along.

Alpena remains under a winter weather advisory until midnight as the freezing rain was expected to transition to snow Tuesday night.

The storm, which was forecasted to begin in the early morning hours of Tuesday, impacted the area little Tuesday morning, but the threat of worse weather approaching and the possibility of icy roads, was enough for most local school systems, and the Alpena Community College, to cancel class.

By noon Tuesday, the freezing rain began to intensify and the cancellations and closures began to pile up.

The accumulation of ice at the Alpena County Regional Airport forced it to close and the afternoon flight to be canceled, Airport Manager Steve Smigelski said.

“Mother Nature won. We can’t keep ahead of the ice accumulation,” Smigelski said. “With the freezing rain still coming down, spreading sand won’t do any good, so he had to close.”

Rogers City and Alpena County canceled meetings, and the Alpena County Library and District Health Department No. 4 closed about noon to allow employees to get home safely as road conditions became more severe. The City of Alpena closed city hall at 2 p.m.

Alpena Engineer Steve Shultz said the city’s salt and plow truck drivers focused on intersections and heavily traveled roads early in the day Tuesday and then made their rounds to other neighborhoods. He said as the day progressed, the goal was to spread as much salt as possible so people could get to where they needed to go before heading home to ride out the balance of the storm.

He said salt loses its effectiveness when temperatures fall to about 10 degrees and the National Weather Service predicts the overnight low will be about 7 degrees tonight, not figuring in wind chills.

“Right now, we are doing what we need to do to get people home and can’t worry about tonight yet, he said. “Our drivers will be out for a while because the freezing rain is going to keep on coming.”

Alpena County Road Commission Managing Director Ryan Brege said the county trucks were on the road early Tuesday and spread salt and scraped ice all day. He said when salt melts, it creates water and falling temperatures and strong winds can refreeze what had previously thawed. He said it is possible roads could be in poor shape on Wednesday morning, but he added his staff will do the best it can to keep them safe.

The ice and snow the area receives will likely stick around for a while, as temperatures are expected to remain in the teens until Saturday when they will climb into the low 30 degree range.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.