WINTER HASN'T YET LOOSENED ITS GRIP

Temperatures weren't expected to climb out of the 30s today after a cold front that pushed through Tuesday night brought a return of winter weather to the area.

Three weather records were set Monday, said Dr. Al Robertson, climatologist at Southeast Missouri State University.

"We just wiped out 1951," when the area also enjoyed an unseasonably warm February, he said.

The high of 74 Monday broke the record for February set that year, Robertson said. The old record was 72.

A record maximum low of 62 was also set, Robertson said, "which clobbered 55 degrees," the record set in 1951.

The average temperature was 68 Monday, breaking the 1951 record of 62.5 degrees, he said.

Thunderstorms rumbled across the area Tuesday afternoon, and the National Weather Service called for lows in the teens and highs in the 30s for the rest of the week with a chance of snow Saturday.

The rain prompted the Cape Girardeau County Commission to lift a no-burn order imposed countywide on Saturday because of a lack of moisture.

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport received .4 inches of rain Tuesday before the front moved through. Tuesday's high was 75 and the low was 42.

Dramatic shifts in temperatures are normal at this time of year, Robertson said. "They'll become more so in the next months with the onslaught of spring," he said. "That Canadian air still wants to come south and take a spring break for a while."

It can be uncomfortable when temperatures slide from the 70s to below freezing in the space of a day or two, but contrary to some beliefs, the weather won't give anyone pneumonia, said Dr. Michael Kolda, medical director of emergency services at Southeast Missouri Hospital.

"The change in temperature itself doesn't do anything to people in terms of making them catch colds or catch pneumonia," Kolda said.

"The cold weather does cause people to huddle together, concentrating their activities in one place." That huddling makes it easier for whatever germs and viruses already are present to spread from person to person, he said.

Weather changes can trigger some health problems.

"If you have a cold front come through, you may have some people with asthma get in trouble with the changes in barometric pressure and cold weather," Kolda said.

The preview of spring-like temperatures probably also aggravated allergies for some sufferers, said Dr. Jean Chapman, a Cape Girardeau allergist.

Warm temperatures triggered growth spurts for some trees, Chapman said.

"That means trees are pollinating, and so everybody that's highly sensitive to elm, soft maple and cedar would be having some hay-fever- like symptoms," he said.

Pollen counts have already hit the high numbers, "even though it was 14 below two weeks ago."

As trees begin budding out, allergy symptoms will only worsen for sufferers. Spring growth produces "about 50 percent of the pollen we count all year."

The colder weather should bring some relief, Chapman said. "It will probably terminate pollination until it gets to be above freezing again," he said.

Mold, another trigger for the allergy-prone, is in the air, but it won't get serious until late spring and summer, Chapman said.

Seesawing temperatures aren't too healthy for trees and gardens either, said Paul Schnare, owner of Sunny Hill Gardens, a Cape Girardeau nursery.

Balmy temperatures and sunny skies tricked some trees and early flowers into springing forth, Schnare said.

"I've seen on certain trees that the buds are starting to swell," he said. "I've seen daffodils and tulips and crocuses are already popping out of the ground because of the warm weather."

If it gets extremely cold -- 20 degrees or lower -- gardeners can cover their flowers and shrubs.

"For the trees that have already started, there's not much you can do," he said.

While Mother Nature makes up her mind on the season over the next few weeks, gardeners will just have to stay on their toes, Schnare said. "That's always the case with this spring weather," he said.