FIGHTING IT OUT: WINTER IS WINNING BATTLE OF SEASONS

A battle of the seasons is raging, and as you might suspect, winter is winning.

The on-again, off-again warmer temperatures may have left the area for a while, according to the National Weather Service in St. Louis.

A weather front stalled over much of the state Thursday, dumping up to 5 inches of rain on parts of central Missouri.

In Cape Girardeau, the storm began shortly before midnight and drenched the area with 2.72 inches by 3 p.m. Thursday. That's a significant rainfall considering the entire month of November averages just under 4 inches of rain, said Jeff Dahms, supervisor of Midwest Weather Inc., at the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport.

The rainfall now stands at 2.85 inches for November at the airport.

The rainfall was heavy enough that the National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for Cape Girardeau County Thursday.

The rain also brought much cooler temperatures. The high for Thursday -- 67 degrees -- was registered at the stroke of midnight. By 3 p.m., temperatures had dropped to a nippy 44 degrees.

Dahms said the weather has really seesawed during these early days of November.

For the first three days of November, a cold snap dropped temperatures between 12 and 14 degrees below normal.

Warmer temperatures returned on Election Day. By Wednesday, the temperatures were 15 degrees above the seasonal average, said Dahms.

By Thursday, temperatures were back to fall averages.

"It really has been swinging back and forth. We call this the battle of the seasons," Dahms said.

That kind of fluctuation is not unusual for this time of year, said Vince Acquaviva, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis.

But he predicts the colder temperatures are here to stay.

The weather service is forecasting a high of 50 degrees through the weekend, with lows dipping into the 30s.

As to the winter outlook, Acquaviva, said the weather service is predicting temperatures and snowfall in the normal range. And that includes snow.

"We typically get about 20 inches of snow a year in St. Louis," he said. "That's about what we're expecting this year."