COLDER AIR ADDS FALL CHILL

The region said goodbye to summer weather as a cold front moved through the area Monday, dropping temperatures and rain.

The temperature was in the 70s in the Cape Girardeau area at the start of Monday. But it dropped to 58 degrees by 8:15 a.m. By 4 p.m., it had dropped to 53 degrees, the National Weather Service in Paducah, Ky., reported.

Temperatures were expected to drop to 35 or 40 degrees Monday night.

Dr. Al Robertson, a Southeast Missouri State University climatologist, welcomed the cooler temperatures. "I like the fall stuff," he said.

The first part of October was unseasonably warm. Cape Girardeau residents sweated through a high of 86 on Sunday. The low was 57.

"The first 10 days averaged seven degrees above normal," Robertson said. "It should be averaging 62 degrees for the day. This past 10 days, it averaged 69 degrees for the day."

Robertson said the area had experienced below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation during the previous six months.

The month of October started out just the opposite, he said.

Horticulturist Harry Bertrand welcomed the rain Monday.

It has been weeks since the region received a good soaking, he said.

Cape Girardeau received nearly an inch of rain on Sept. 23. But since then, it had seen little rain.

"You need at least an inch of rain to get a fairly deep soak down into the ground," said Bertrand, who teaches landscape horticulture at the Cape Girardeau Area Vocational-Technical School.

The dry weather was stressful to trees and plants, Bertrand said. Many trees dropped green leaves.

On Monday, the area received more than an inch of rain, Bertrand said.

The National Weather Service recorded 0.98 inches of rain.

Cool nights and bright, sunny days make for good fall color, Bertrand said. But this fall has been too hot, he said.

Bertrand said Monday's weather change is too drastic to generate colorful fall foliage.

The sudden temperature change is stressful on plants. "They are not going to have any time at all to become acclimated to the cooler temperatures," he said.

"They don't have time to go slowly into their dormant stage," said Bertrand.

He said the sudden change in temperature is like going from July Fourth to Christmas morning.

Bertrand said the cooler temperatures shouldn't affect the apple harvest, which is winding down.

The wet weather is good for trees and shrubs as they head into winter, he said.

Bertrand said his horticulture class has collected persimmon seeds. When cut open, they look like spoons, forks or knives.

A spoon shape forecasts a wet winter. A knife shape suggests it will be bitterly cold. A fork shape forecasts a mild winter.

The class has checked a number of persimmon seeds. "We have spoons in all of those," he said.