Get your heavy coats, ice scrapers and snow shovels ready, because the start of winter is just a few weeks away, and it could be a stormy season for parts of the United States. "It can be an intense stormy winter for areas of the country, particularly across the Midwest, Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Northeast and parts of the mid-Atlantic," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said. Meteorological winter starts on Monday, Dec. 1, while astronomical winter begins on the solstice,