Paula Porter, for the Gazette Severe winter weather visited the Copper Country lates Tuesday night and continued into Thanksgiving Day. The wet, heavy snow coupled with high brought down power lines causing loss of electricity to thousands throughout Houghton Ontonagon, Keweenaw and Baraga Counties. This picture was taken Wednesday morning, on M-203 near the intersection of Lakeshore Drive in Houghton County

HOUGHTON — As predicted, winter weather struck the Copper Country just before the Thanksgiving holiday. The snow began in earnest just before midnight Tuesday dropping up to six inches in some locations. Winds gusting in excess of 40 mph were reported. The heavy snow, coupled with the high winds caused a lot of problems Wednesday. Multiple power outages were reported in Ontonagon, Houghton and keweenaw counties, affecting thousands of power customers.

According to the Upper Peninsula Power Company, more than 20,000 customers were without electricity at least at some point Wednesday.

A large-scale power outage occurred on the M-26 business strip in houghton, forcing several large retailers, including Marketplace Foods and Walmart to temporarily close. The outage also affected traffic flowing on M-26 with traffic signals left dark. Large portions of Laurium and nearby areas were without electricity as well. Despite the challenges no major accidents or incidents were reported according to the Houghton County Sheriff’s department, through Wednesday afternoon.

There were, however, multiple reports of downed trees, across power lines and in some cases, blocking traffic on rural roads, near Lac la Belle, Rice Lake and throughout Houghton, Hancock and Calumet.

According to the National Weather service office in Marquette, officially four inches fell Tuesday with snow expected to continue.