It won't be long until the cold and snow return. AccuWeather's long-range experts share what you can expect this winter to be like in the U.S.

* So how cold will it actually get this winter? It depends on where you live.

* In Michigan, there's a 50/50 chance of colder and warmer temperatures.

This week's weather -- colder and wetter in Southeast Michigan than it has been so far this autumn -- is a reminder from Mother Nature that it's time to get out your hats and heavier coats.

How cold will it actually get this winter?

And will it snow on Christmas?

A winter weather preview released this week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center offers some clues of what to expect in December, January and February, locally and nationwide.

In the North, you can expect it to be colder and wetter, while in the South, warmer and drier. The report is even less specific for smaller areas, like Michigan, where there is about a 50/50 chance of colder and warmer temperatures.

But Steve Considine, a National Weather Service meteorologist in White Lake Township, warned that the report does suggest occasional bone-chilling arctic blasts and possibly more snow or rain than usual.

So maybe a white Christmas? Maybe.

In gerneral, meteorologists tend to eschew making predictions more than a few days out. And if you ask about what to expect more than a week away, their crystal balls get cloudy. Climatologists look at longer-term weather patterns.

What the weather forecasters will say with more certainty is that fall appears to have finally arrived with overcast skies, daytime highs in the 50s and overnight lows in the 30s and 40s, and a smattering of rain, mostly on Wednesday and Thursday.

"We're really getting a taste of fall weather, with much colder temperatures than they have been so far," Considine added. "For the rest of the week and into the weekend, it'll be a much more standard Michigan fall weather pattern."