STORMS END LONG HOT SPELL; HEAVY RAINS FALL IN PARTS OF REGION

A monotonous, 25-day heat wave that began in early May ended Monday when thunderstorms dumped heavy rains on parts of the Cape Girardeau area.

A total of 1.3 inches of rain fell from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Jackson. The Cape Girardeau airport received only .27 an inch.

Frequent lightning accompanying the storms caused power outages to about 100 customers of Union Electric Co. UE spokesman A.D. Cox said the outages were scattered throughout Cape Girardeau County.

Cox said a tree limb fell on a tap line of a 7,200-volt power line along County Roads 638 and 635, knocking out power to about 50 customers.

He said lightning burned a jumper wire on a 12,000-volt line, cutting power to about 40 customers on Bloomfield Road between Interstate 55 and Highway 74.

UE crews replaced lightning-damaged pole transformers at Dutchtown and on County Road 206 and replaced tap line fuses on a line near Gordonville.

Cox said many of the trouble calls came late in the day as people coming home from work discovered their air conditioners were not working.

The thunderstorms were triggered by a cold front pushing southwestward from the Great Lakes area. Behind the front, cooler and much drier air will replace the hot and humid air that's more typical here in mid-July and August.

Temperatures today will only climb to the mid-80s after highs in the low 90s the past several days.

The extended forecast for the Riverfest weekend is for little or no rain and less humid conditions with highs in the 80s and lows in the upper 60s.

Al Robertson of the earth science department at Southeast Missouri State University said the unusual warmth last month made it the third hottest May in Cape Girardeau in 44 years.

He said the average temperature last month was 72.2 degrees, up 5.2 degrees from the long-term average of 67. The warmest May ever in Cape Girardeau occurred in 1962, with an average of 74.9 degrees. The second warmest May was in 1987, with an average of 73.4 degrees.

In contrast, Robertson said the coolest May in 44 years was in 1954, with an average of 61.8 degrees.

The average temperature for the first 10 days of the month was 64.6 degrees, up eight-tenths of a degree. During the second 10-day period, the average was 74.8 degrees, up 7.7 degrees. The May 21-31 average was 76.8 degrees, up 6.4 degrees.

There were 25 days when the daily high was at or above 75 degrees and 17 days when it was above 80 degrees, Robertson said.

"The key thing about May was the minimum temperature average," he said. "The overnight lows were well above the long-term average because of the very high humidity and cloud cover at night."

Robertson said this spring also went into the record book as the third warmest in 44 years, with an average temperature of 61.4 degrees for the March-May period. It was up 4 degrees from the long-term average of 57.4.

"For a 90-day period that's a pretty significant increase," Robertson said. "In fact, every month this year has had above-normal average temperatures except January."

Robertson said he doesn't believe global warming is the cause of the warmer-than-normal temperatures during five of the last six months. "It's strictly a short-term effect," he said.

Rain in May was actually below the long-term average, but Robertson said there were so many rainy days scattered throughout the month that it seemed wetter than it really was.

Rain at the airport totaled 4.37 inches, down .37 of an inch from the long-term average of 4.74 inches. But Robertson said that on May 20, the Cape Girardeau received 1.6 inches of rain while the airport got only .01 of an inch. "So parts of the city of Cape actually got closer to six inches of rain last month," he said.

The long-term average temperature for June is 77.6 degrees. Rain in June 1990 was 1.65 inches, well below the long-term average of 3.88 inches.

The National Weather Service's 30-day weather outlook for June calls for more warm, wet weather. But the 90-day outlook through the end of August suggests a hot, dry summer is ahead for the area.