If it felt like a May day, you were on the mark Yesterday's high was 68, just right for May 2.

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, February, 2008 | by Jonathan Matisse and Anthony R. Wood Inquirer Staff Writers

Villanova University's baseball players traditionally taunt nature by practicing outdoors in the first week in February, the very heart of the region's winter-misery season. But this week something extraordinary occurred on the Main Line: They got to practice in actual baseball weather. Officially, the Philadelphia temperature reached 68, smashing one of the region's longest-standing daily temperature records, one that dated to 1884 and had withstood 123 years of assaults by February mild spells.

But as the late-day rains announced, wintry reality is making a return. After a gradual fall-back to seasonal normals during the next few days, temperatures may struggle to get above freezing on Sunday. And, yes, the spring equinox is still six weeks away. But for an afternoon, it...