As West Michigan braces for the season’s first winter storm, Kalamazoo public safety crews say they’ve already been preparing for days.

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.

"Travel conditions will be challenging across the northern Plains, Great Lakes and east coast through Thanksgiving holiday weekend," the NWS has warned.

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.