WEATHER ART NEW DAILY FEATURE AT MISSOURIAN

For the past 259 days, the Weather Pet has brought a bit of cheer to the daily forecast on Page 1 of the Southeast Missourian. Starting today, area students will be drawing their versions of the weather forecasts, and these color pictures will appear each day at the top of Page 1.

When the first Weather Pet appeared last Feb. 10, no one knew how popular this feature would be. There was a general announcement at the time that readers were welcome to send in photographs of their pets. No other appeals were made, but the photos kept coming.

As a matter of fact, the 259 photos came from 26 towns in five states (Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas and Iowa). And in addition to the 168 photos of dogs, there also were photos of 43 cats, six rabbits, two goats, a raccoon, a pig, a cockatiel and a squirrel.

Sorry, no partridge in a pear tree.

There also were 36 photos of animals available for adoption at the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri. Even though the Weather Pets are being replaced by the students' drawings, the Southeast Missourian will continue to publish photos each week of adoptable pets.

To all of the pet owners who shared their favorite pet photos: Thank you. Your pets made it possible to start each day with a smile, regardless of the weather forecast.

Elementary-school students will, no doubt, provide the same cheer with their versions of the daily weather forecasts. Each weather drawing will include the name of the artist, his or her age and hometown.

With the introduction today of the new weather drawings, some other minor changes have been made in the look of the top of the front page. The bar code used by retailers who sell the Southeast Missourian has been moved to the top of the page.

We hope readers will enjoy the weather drawings in the days and weeks ahead.

-- The editor.