UMBRELLA WILL BE PART OF EASTER FINERY

The Easter weekend weather will be warmer than usual, but an umbrella will definitely be a required part of the Easter finery.

The National Weather Service at St. Charles forecasts scattered showers and thunderstorms for the Cape Girardeau area throughout the weekend and into first half of next week.

The weather service said a weak cold front pushing through Missouri Thursday was expected to become stationary over mid-Missouri and Illinois today, and remain in that position through the first part of next week.

The frontal zone is expected to generate shower and thunderstorm activity on both sides of the front, forecasters said. But Easter Sunday may not be a complete washout, since the storms will be scattered, and won't develop until later in the afternoon, say forecasters.

While a rainy Easter weekend is not exactly what most of us want to see, there is a shortage of moisture so far this month in the area. Rainfall at the airport, and in most of the area during the first 15 days of April, has been well below the long-term average only .06 of an inch.

The long-term monthly average is 4.47 inches. Last year, nearly six (5.87) inches of rain fell in April. Many of the farmers who now have their spring corn and soybeans in the ground are looking for rain to germinate the seed.

Temperatures are expected to continue well above seasonal levels over the weekend, following two consecutive days of record high temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday.

Midwest Weather Services at the airport reported the 15-year-old record high for April 14 was surpassed when the temperature reached 86 degrees, one degree above the old record set in 1977. On Wednesday, the afternoon high of 87 broke the old record of 86, also set in 1977.

Thursday's high was only 80 degrees, thanks to an increase in cloud cover caused by the approaching frontal system.

Al Robertson, professor of earth science, and climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University, says that after a chilly start, the average temperature for the first 15-days of April is 56.2 degrees. That's nearly two (1.8) degrees above the long-term average of 54.4 degrees.

Robertson said the daily highs on April 1-2 were only in the upper 40s. Since April 7, however, the daily high has been above 73 degrees, except for 62 degrees on April 12. On five of the 15 days, the afternoon high was at or above 80 degrees.

The weather service's 30-day, mid-April to mid-May outlook calls for above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall in the Cape Girardeau area. The 90-day, long-range outlook, through the end of June, suggests near normal temperatures and rainfall in this area during May and June.

The unusually warm weather this month is in sharp contrast to the near winter-like conditions that occurred in mid-March, when a low of 22 degrees on March 11 caused considerable damage to fruit trees, flowers, shrubs and other plants. The trees were blooming nearly a month earlier than normal as a result of seven consecutive days of 70 degrees plus temperatures during the first week of March.

Despite the cold weather, the March average temperature was 49.1 degrees, up 2.3 degrees above the long-term average of 46.8 degrees, thanks to a gradual return of near seasonal temperatures later in the month.