Many school districts have closed Thursday, Jan. 23, as snowfall continues - particularly along the lakeshore - in a weeklong winter storm.

This week’s arctic blast has been hard on everyone in West Michigan and that includes our first responders. No matter the weather conditions they are traditionally some of the first people on the scene of an emergency.

Impressive amounts of snow have fallen since Sunday leaving portions of West Michigan under over a foot of snowfall.

A chain reaction crash developed Tuesday morning in white-out conditions along Interstate 94 in West Michigan.

Snow will continue into the overnight hours before winds bring in more lake-effect snow Thursday morning on a northwesterly wind.

A former West Ottawa wide receiver, Bosma was named first team all-state in Division 1-2 by the Associated Press for his senior season, a year in which he broke the school record for receptions in a season with 80, as he finished with 956 yards and eight touchdowns

The coldest air in six years blasts into Michigan to start the week, with highs in the single digits, wind chills ten to twenty-five below zero, heavy lake effect snow

Those who can in Southwest Michigan are prepping for forecast freezing temperatures at the grocery store. Some groups are working with those with nowhere to go to keep them safe from the cold. Others are stocking up with supplies to shield their homes.

With widespread school closings in West Michigan this week, some districts have now seen a half dozen or more snow days this school year.

The National Weather Service said reported readings as low as minus 27 Tuesday as an Arctic air mass spread across Michigan.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As an Arctic blast continues to freeze West Michigan, schools have started to announce closures for Tuesday. This is the second day in a row that some schools have closed with several closing on Monday due to the weather or in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“In cold temperatures like this, when the firefighters stop and they have sweat underneath, once they lose the protection of that vapor barrier --they never get it back,” Fire Lieutenant Jason Hendrick with the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety said.