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UPDATE: As of 9 a.m., more than 4,000 Indiana Michigan Power customers are without power, the majority in the Benton Harbor area, according to a news release.

I&M crews are working through difficult conditions to restore power to impacted customers as safely and quickly as possible. Additional linecrews and contractors from Fort Wayne and Muncie are heading north to assist with restoration, however, ongoing strong winds and wintery weather will continue to be a challenge. Assessment crews continue to survey damage, which at this time includes 12 broken poles in the Benton Harbor area and two in Buchanan.

SOUTHWEST MICHIGAN — The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning through 1 p.m. Thursday for Berrien and Cass counties.

An arctic front moved into the region last night, resulting in a mix of rain and snow showers that  turned into snow showers.  The combination of snow showers and wind gusts to 35 to 45 mph resulted in some significantly reduced visibilities at times along with slick road conditions.

Numerous lake effect snow showers are expected to persist today. Windy conditions will cause some blowing and drifting snow in the vicinity of the showers. Additional snowfall is expected to be 3 to 5 inches in the warned area with lesser amounts elsewhere.

According to Find Energy, 4,506 out of 83,418 tracked meters (5.4 percent) are without power in Berrien County.

Key Messages

• Strong northwest winds accompanied by very cold air will continue to generate lake effect snow showers with blowing and drifting snow.

• Lowest visibilities will be a half a mile or less in the vicinity of the snow showers.

• Additional accumulations of 3 to 6 inches, mainly within the winter weather headlines.

• Wind gusts up to 45 mph.

For more information or to check for weather updates, visit the National Weather Service’s website at forecast.weather.gov.