Oct. 8--The arrival of Columbus Day on Monday could bring cooler temperatures to southeast Michigan and the first widespread frost of the season, according to the National Weather Service.

"A lot of people haven't had a hard freeze yet, but this could definitely be a contender," said meteorologist Bill Deedler at the White Lake Township office, referring to the cold-air mass that's expected to reach the area by Monday and continue into Tuesday.

The timing is right; metro Detroit usually gets its first frost in the first or second week of October, Deedler said.

He says Monday's weather forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies with a chance of showers and highs in the low 50s. The cloudiness and rain showers continue into the night with lows in the upper 30s. Tuesday is expected to be cloudy with highs in the low 50s.

The average high for this time of year is 60; the average low is about 40.

DTE Energy was expecting to restore service to 13,000 customers -- 9,000 in Wayne County and 4,000 in Oakland County -- by late today, spokesman Scott Simons said.

The outages came as high winds battered parts of Michigan on Tuesday night and early Wednesday. The National Weather Service recorded a 61-m.p.h. gust in Muskegon.

Consumers Energy said about 9,900 customers were without power statewide. There were 170 customers in Livingston County without power and 120 customers in Jackson. Power is expected to be restored to them by late today.

Elsewhere, four children and their school bus driver escaped injury early Wednesday after a live power line fell onto their bus in Grand Rapids.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

-----

To see more of the Detroit Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.freep.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, Detroit Free Press

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

DTE,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.