WARMER TEMPERATURES RETURNING

Temperatures were expected to begin returning to seasonal norms today with the departure of a cold air mass that treated the region to a pre-Halloween snowfall.

The arctic air swooped in on Friday, trapping a layer of moisture beneath it and dusting some parts of the region with more than 2 inches of snow.

The Missouri Weather Cooperative at the Cape Girardeau Municipal Airport reported 2.6 inches of snow had fallen since 5:30 p.m. Friday, most of it between 5:30 and midnight that night.

Temperatures fell with the snow Friday, from an early-morning high of 49 to a low of 31 at midnight.

The snow on Saturday amounted only to flurries, but temperatures remained chilly with wind gusts up to 24 mph and a low of 30, putting the wind chill in the single digits.

The low Sunday also was 30, but a warming trend is predicted over the next few days. Temperatures are expected to reach into the low 50s and skies will be mostly sunny.

Tuesday's forecast calls for a chance of rain and the high in the upper 50s.

"We are back to seasonal temperatures," said Vincenzo Acquaviva, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in St. Louis.