Bands of rain are moving southeast toward Michigan's thumb and metro Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 22. See the radar.

Typically, November serves as a transitional month, not only because it bridges the gap from the summer to the winter, but because snow, severe storms, and wild temperature swings all begin to occur.

It was only a generation or two ago that weather forecasts were not to be taken too seriously: funny-guy meteorologists on the local news wisecracking about ruined golf plans. That has long stopped ...