EXECUTIVE ORDER
No. 2019-1
Declaration of State of Emergency
The National Weather Service has issued multiple winter weather warnings across the State of Michigan beginning Tuesday, January 29, 2019. These warnings predict extremely cold weather as an Arctic airmass settles over the region and brings record or near-record low temperatures, accompanied by gusty winds. Wind chills are predicted as low as 50 degrees below zero in many places.
Possible effects include disruptions in travel and commerce, and the threat of frostbite, hypothermia, or even death if proper precautions are not taken.
These extreme conditions are predicted across the Upper and Lower Peninsulas and will extend to areas less accustomed to extreme cold temperatures, such as the metropolitan Detroit area. Such widespread, extreme conditions have not occurred in Michigan for many years.
Under the Emergency Management Act, 1976 PA 390, MCL 30.403(4), “[t]he governor shall, by executive order or proclamation, declare a state of emergency if he or she finds that an emergency has occurred or that the threat of an emergency exists.”
Therefore, acting pursuant to the Michigan Constitution of 1963 and Michigan law, including the Emergency Management Act, 1976 PA 390, MCL 30.401 to 30.421, I order the following:
Date: January 28, 2019
GRETCHEN WHITMER
GOVERNOR