WARM WEATHER WILL STAY AWHILE

Feb. 25 is a good day for unusual weather.

The thermometer registered a high of 73 degrees Friday, not quite breaking a record but provoking thoughts of spring. Feb. 25 happens to be the same date that 24 inches of snow paralyzed the region in what became known as the Great Blizzard of 1979.

Friday's warm temperatures were accompanied by a south wind of 20 mph with gusts measured as high at 29 mph.

The unseasonably mild weather is expected to continue through the weekend. Predicted highs are in the mid-60s today, dipping to 60 on Sunday. Winds from 15 to 25 mph are expected to continue. Low temperatures were forecast to be 45 to 50 tonight and remain in the same range through Tuesday night.

Showers and thunderstorms are possible this morning, followed by dry conditions Sunday and Monday. The chance of showers and thunderstorms is expected to return on Tuesday.

The U.S. Weather Service station in Paducah, Ky., said the forecast for March is for above-average temperatures and normal precipitation.

Gerald Bryan, an agronomist with the University of Missouri Extension Service, warned gardeners not to try to get a head start on the planting season just because temperatures are so spring-like. "The urge is there to do that because the weather is so pretty," he said. "But in most cases you're going to be wasting time and effort. There's a pretty good chance it would get some frost damage."

Bryan said come crops that can tolerate cold -- cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, for instance -- could be planted this early if given some protection.

The primary problem these warm days pose three and one-half weeks before spring is to fruit crops and to trees. If the buds start opening and possibly bloom on the fruit trees, a frost will wipe out the crop.

Other kinds of trees could be imperiled, too, Bryan said, because of extremes in the past two growing seasons. The trees received too much water two years ago and not enough during last year's drought. If this warm weather brings out buds before another freeze, that would be the third stressful season in a row.

"We could see quite a few trees dying," Bryan said.