LOW OF 17 DEGREES HERE WEDNESDAY SETS RECORD

A blast of arctic air sent temperatures plunging to single-digit and below-zero readings in Missouri and Illinois Wednesday morning.

But the cold air will move eastward today, prompting a warming trend that will see daytime highs recover to the mid-50s and lower 60s by Saturday and Sunday.

The low at Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport Wednesday was 17 degrees, a record for Dec. 4. It broke the 17-year-old record low of 19 degrees set in 1974.

Wednesday was the coldest morning here since the weekend of Nov. 8-10, when record lows were set on three consecutive days, including 12 degrees on Nov. 9.

While other parts of the state were even colder, the National Weather Service at St. Charles said Cape Girardeau's morning low was the only record low in the state for Dec. 4.

Some others were close, including: 10 degrees at St. Louis, (8 is the record); 9 at Kansas City, (6 is the record); and 11 at St. Joseph, where the record for Dec. 4 is 8.

The low at Columbia was 8; the record low there for Dec. 4 is 2. Other lows around the state included 14 at Springfield, 10 at Vichy, and 3 at Kirksville.

In Illinois, Chicago reported 4 degrees while Rockford got down to minus 2 degrees. It was 1 above at Moline, minus 1 at Peoria, 3 at Quincy and 4 at Springfield.

The weather service said the wind chill Wednesday morning in most of Missouri and Southern Illinois was minus 25 degrees and it was minus 40 degrees in northern Illinois and Iowa.

International Falls, Minn., set a record low of minus 22 degrees, Wednesday.

By mid-afternoon Wednesday, the temperature at the airport struggled up to the freezing mark.

The extended, weekend forecast calls for little if any precipitation. Highs Friday will be in the 40s with lows in the 20s. Highs will be in the mid-50s on Saturday, warming to the 60s by Sunday. Lows both days will be in the 30s.