WARMER TEMEPRATURES IN FORECAST BUT DON'T PUT THE COATS AWAY YET

Don't put those overcoats away yet!

Although the National Weather Service's extended forecast is calling for mild temperatures over the coming weekend, Girardeau George and Punxsutawney Phil have some other ideas about what happens then.

George and Phil, part-time weather forecasters and full-time groundhogs, saw their shadows Wednesday, and predicted six more weeks of winter.

Groundhog Day tradition is rooted in a German superstition that if an animal casts a shadow on Feb. 2 -- the Christian holiday of Candlemas -- bad weather is coming.

Skies had been cloudy throughout much of Tuesday, but not early Wednesday, which dawned clear. The sun was shining bright along Route W, near Cape Girardeau Wednesday, and anyone who braved the crisp cold early morning may have noticed George as he peered out of his underground home to notice the sun, see his shadow and disappear quickly back into his habitat.

Ditto at Punxsutawney, Pa. and New York's Staten Island.

It didn't take Punxsutawney Phil long to feel the extreme Pennsylvania cold and new snow and head back to warmer quarters. Staten Island Chuck agree with Phil. He wandered out of his hut at the Staten Island Zoo and saw his shadow around 7:30 a.m., and headed back inside.

That didn't discourage Georgia's prognosticating groundhog, General Beauregard Lee, who emerged from his home in Lilburn to predict an early spring. And in Sun Prairie, Wis., Jimmy the Groundhog predicted his fourth straight early spring, with his human companions heartily hoping he would be right again.

The Missouri extended forecast calls for warmer temperatures today with continued mild temperatures through the weekend along with partly to mostly cloudy skies. Friday's highs should range from the lower 40s north to around 60 southeast, with lows in the mid-20s and 30s.

Highs Saturday and Sunday are expected to be from the lower 40s north to the 50s southeast, with lows from the mid- and upper 20s north to around 40 southeast.