the streets downtown.
resident Chris Curtis had the weekend off, but his curiosity wanted to see the snowfall heights and see
what businesses were open downtown.
All photos by Sylvia Benavidez
By Sylvia Benavidez
Contributing Writer
The City of Albion and Marshall both announced a snow emergency for Friday, Jan. 12 at 8 p.m.
through Sunday, Jan. 14 at 8 a.m. Parking on the streets in Albion was only allowed for quick stops for
businesses downtown. By Saturday U.S. National Weather Service reported snow at 8 inches for the
Battle Creek area and 5 in for Jackson. Albion and Marshall by Sunday morning had anywhere from 5 to
6 inches. Winds were predicted up to 50 miles per hour, but most of the time landed somewhere between
14 to 20 miles an hour in the area.
On Friday and Saturday, Jan. 12 and 13, the Albion Department of Public Safety had five calls of
lines down or trees blocking the street as the weather got worse. A limb blocked traffic on Perry Street
and a large tree blocked W. Erie Street. Officers reported a tree limb breaking off and hanging off of a
powerline leading to a house. Consumers Energy reported Albion and Marshall had few power outages
during the weekend. The U.S. weather service has stated on average that Albion gets 43 inches a year,
but this year has fallen short of that height with this weekend seeing the most snow and coldest
temperatures of the season.
Those walking out in the snow Saturday morning could feel a crunchy layer of ice underneath. In
Albion Elijah Armstrong had a friend drive him to work at the Albion Malleable Brewery Co. to keep from
getting too cold. Other places that were open in Albion also included Pure Albion, and the Foundry
Bakehouse & Deli.
Chris Curtis lives in the northern part of Marshall and works in Albion and had the weekend off.
He was out walking around much of downtown Marshall Saturday because he had an errand to run, but
wanted to see what the snow level was like downtown too. He stopped close to the fountain circle to
share what he saw with The Recorder. “It was slick on the sidewalk. I almost went down over there
further up on the sidewalk. Some of the sidewalks have been cleaned off, but there is still a lot of snow
with ice underneath the sidewalk.” He noticed a lot of places were closed but saw a few that were open.
One beauty store in Marshall that was open downtown was Beauty Bar. One of the stylists Abbi
Cuba said it was slippery on 11 Mile Road and her fellow beautician Tonya Robinson agreed. She drove
30 miles an hour to town from the area around Cornwall Turky Farm. Their customer Geri Smith came
from Burlington to get her hair done despite the weather. Referring to Robinson, she said, “Because she
is so good.” The ladies both said they came in because of the love of their clients. For some customers,
they said, this is their only day off. Their boss came in early to clear the store area of snow. They only
had one cancellation as of noon Saturday.
Artic temperatures dipping to -3 degrees during the last few days caused car batteries to work
less efficiently or not at all and schools were closed across the area. The Albion District Library and the
MLK Jr. event on Monday at Marshall Opportunity High School were warming stations on Monday for
those needing shelter from the subzero temperatures. The U.S. Weather Service sees the temperatures
in the teens for the rest of the week and a possibility of snow.