A winter storm watch has been issued for 12 counties in northern and northwestern Lower Michigan. The winter storm watch is for the time period of Wednesday afternoon to Friday morning. A winter storm watch is also in effect for the same time period in the eastern U.

Allegan County officials are gearing up as temperatures start to dip below freezing into the evening. Drivers in Dorr Township told News Channel 3 they're cautious but confident driving in the year's first big snowfall, with the county being one of five as of Wednesday afternoon with a winter storm warning.

DETROIT – New long-range models are giving us an early look at Michigan’s winter weather for January through March. Southeast Michigan is headed for a classic Midwestern winter, according to those new long-range outlooks from the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center.

Join us each day on our MLive weather page between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. weekdays when we do our live forecast. Want to see it later? You can catch up on the forecast by watching our video.

Cloud cover will increase throughout the daytime hours today with dry conditions prevailing. As high pressure at the surface exits, low pressure will drive returning rain showers beginning overnight tonight.