REGION FINALLY SEES FIRST SNOWFALL OF THE SEASON

Kurt Warner never looked so good in snow.

At least, Matt Unterreiner thinks so. He and his buddies built an 8-foot snowman Saturday at the Cape Girardeau home of friend, Jess Gotto.

They put an old Rams jacket on the beefy snowman and added the number 13 in honor of their favorite quarterback. A blue towel and banana peels made up the football helmet and sawed-off limbs were used for arms.

Unterreiner, a Southeast Missouri State University student, said the region's first snowfall was perfect for building snowmen. About 1 to 2 inches of snow fell in the Cape Girardeau area.

Unterreiner and his friends hope their larger-than-life, snowman quarterback doesn't melt right away.

But if the Rams lose today's playoff game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the snowman's future could be in jeopardy.

"If they lose, we might tackle it," Unterreiner said.

While much of the region received 1 to 2 inches of snow, an area stretching across the Bootheel and parts of Kentucky received from 3 to 5 1/2 inches, the National Weather Service said.

"There was a band of fairly heavy snow that stretched from around New Madrid through Fulton, Ky., and on toward the lakes region," said Doug Boyette, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Paducah, Ky. New Madrid reported 4 inches of snow.

"This was good for a snowman," he said. "It was easily packable."

Boyette said wet snow is best for building snowmen.

The storm dumped rain on Arkansas and Tennessee.

The snow started falling after midnight, blanketing trees, yards, cars and rooftops.

But road crews quickly cleaned the roads.

Cape Girardeau Public Works Director Doug Leslie said the wet snow and relatively warm ground made the job easier.

Temperatures, however, didn't rise past the mid-30s in the Cape Girardeau area Saturday. The forecast called for cold temperatures in the 30s again today.

Boyette said the region's first snowfall was unusually late this winter. Typically, the region sees snow in December.

But the high winds of the Jet Stream out of Canada haven't dropped as far south as usual. As a result, the cold air has been locked in Canada and New England, Boyette said.

But another cold front is expected to move into the area Tuesday. That could dump snow or rain on the region. "For a while we will be in the grips of Old Man Winter," said Boyette.

High temperatures may stay in the 30s all week, he said.

But for snowman builders like Unterreiner, Saturday's weather couldn't have been better.

It also boosted sales of snow shovels, sleds and Ice Melt at area stores. Such items had been sitting on store shelves this winter.

John Sander, manager of True Value Hardware in the Town Plaza, said the snow made snow shovels and other winter supplies a top priority with customers. "It definitely changed things around," he said.