CAPE COOLER THAN ALASKA ON MONDAY; SUMMER OFFICIALLY ARRIVES IN DATE ONLY

Sunday was the first day of summer, according to the sun and the calendar, but not according to the thermometer. Record low temperatures were set or tied Sunday, and again Monday morning, as a strong outbreak of cold Canadian air plunged deep into the nation's mid-section.

On Sunday, the morning low of 54 at the Cape Girardeau airport tied the record low set in 1961.

On Monday, it was warmer in parts of Alaska than it was in Cape Girardeau, where a new record low was set for June 22.

The National Weather Service said Monday's low at Anchorage was 51 degrees. In contrast, the low at the Cape Girardeau airport was 48 degrees. That broke the 31-year-old record low for the date, 50 degrees, set in 1961.

Sunday's high of 72 at Cape Girardeau wasn't very far from the seasonal overnight low for this time of year. Even with a bright afternoon sun, it seemed even cooler due to a brisk, northerly wind.

Sunday's high temperature was 16 degrees below average. The long-term average high for June 21 is 88 degrees.

Monday's low of 48 degrees was 18 degrees below the long-term average of 66 degrees for June 22.

Despite cool temperatures in the rest of the state, Cape Girardeau set the only record low, according to the National Weather Service in St. Charles. Other lows Monday included: 47 at Columbia, 51 at Vichy, 52 at Springfield, and 53 at Joplin, and 54 at St. Louis. Kansas City and St. Joseph reported 56 degrees. Highs Sunday in the state were in the low to mid-70s.

In Kentucky, the National Weather Service said record lows were set at all four weather service stations Monday, including 45 degrees at Paducah. That broke the 31-year-record of 52 degrees, set in 1961.

Record lows were also set Monday in a number of other cities east of the Mississippi River. The record low at Indianapolis was a fall-like 37 degrees. Cincinnati reported 43 degrees. It was 41 in Chicago.

The cold spot in the nation, Monday, was 28 degrees, at Escanaba, Mich.

The weather service said a sharp kink that developed last week in the jet stream caused the band of high altitude winds to shift to a northwest to southeasterly direction, allowing it to dip down over Missouri, bringing with it the unseasonably cold air from Canada.

The record low temperatures here were in sharp contrast to four consecutive days of highs in the low to mid-90s last week. The high so far this month, 95 degrees, occurred on June 17.

Despite the cool, weekend temperatures, Al Robertson, professor of earth science and climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University, reported the average temperature for the first 21 days of June is only 0.9 of a degree below the long-term average of 74.9 degrees. Robertson said cool temperatures during the first 10 days of the month tended to cancel the impact of the four-day heat wave from June 15-18.

Forecasters said the dome of cold Canadian high pressure is moving eastward, and a warming trend was already under way by mid-afternoon, Monday. Under partly cloudy skies, highs today are expected to be back in the lower 80s, with lows in the low 60s.