After a dreary week of rain showers, students took full advantage of the sunny weather to relax outdoors yesterday. Students could be found outside, eating lunch or playing a game of Frisbee on Old Main lawn with friends.

"I hope that afternoons like this will be what I remember after I leave State College," Alicia Cole-Quigley (senior-aerospace engineering) said as she sat at Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave.

The high for yesterday was close to 60 degrees, senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski of AccuWeather said.

Solmaz Barazesh (graduate-ecological and molecular plant physiology) said she was very happy that the weather had taken a turn for the better.

"[I] definitely try to stay out of the classroom and go hiking or something," she said.

Students were generally upbeat after a week of cool temperatures and rain.

Sarah Armstrong (junior-political science) said the dreariness of last week had a large effect on her mood. "When it's nice outside, I'm more inclined to want to be outside; you don't have to deal with being cold and wet," she said.

The warm weather is expected to last through the weekend and into next week with a predicted high of 80 degrees on Sunday and a low probability of rain. "This is the start of a multi-day warming trend," Sosnowski said.

Many students seemed happy about the warmer weather because of the potential for outdoor activities. "It makes people want to get out of the apartment more and do something," Dean Spiridon (senior-accounting) said.

Caitlin Burns (junior-elementary education) said she and her friends were planning a picnic for Saturday because of the nice weather.

Many students said sunny weather improves their mood, and clinical studies show that weather does have an effect on the moods of some people.

Michelle Newman, associate professor of psychology, said that seasonal affective disorder. "People get depressed when it's cloudy outside."