On my way home last night in Sands Township (Marquette Co) I actually saw a few flakes of snow interspersed with the rain. It was 34 degrees out.
Still I won't put my snow blower on the tractor until mid November.
The best way to clear a lot of consistent is snow is with a rig like mine (forward facing 2 stage blower). It isn't quite as fast as plowing but you don't have to create, huge push lanes, or push areas to put the snow.
Plowing is always mentioned as cheaper, but I think in the long run that isn't true, because there seems to be a lot more maintaince with plowing and the associated down time.