The last weekend before finals turned out to be one of the nicest ones this year, as summerlike temperatures hit the DeKalb area after the rain rolled through.

The extended forecast calls for much of the same; nice weather with temperatures expected to stay in the 70’s through Wednesday. There is, however, a chance of rain and thunderstorms throughout the week.

After the rain Saturday morning, the weekend included high temperatures and sunny skies. Saturday’s high temperature was 73 degrees, with Sunday’s temperature at 76 degrees.

“These temperatures are a bit above normal for this time of year,” said Joe Librizzi of the Rockford National Weather Service.

The good weather kept the Recreation Center busy, with rentals of rollar skates and other sports equipment being the most popular.

“It started out a litle slow on Saturday because of the rain, but the number of rentals increased as the weekend went on,” said Karen Rioux, an employee at the Recreation Center.

The nice weather turned out to be not as good news for NIU professors, who experienced their classroom attendence go down considerably when the nice weather hit.

Mary Larson, assistant professor in Communication Studies, said attendance was down in her classes last week, but did not cause her to change her lesson plan.

“I didn’t change my lesson plan at all,” Larson said,” I think the kids who come to class deserve the full shot.”

However, some professors who teach graduate classes saw no change in their classes’ attendance last week.

“Graduate students seem to be less swayed by the nice weather than the undergraduates,” said Lary Arnhart, assistant professor of political science.

No matter how NIU students chose to spend the nice weekend, everyone should have taken advantage of it because finals are here again.