Winter Weather Update: Monday, February 15th, 2:30pm CST

Emergency Managers of Southeast Louisiana and Southern Mississippi -

Here is the latest update as of 2:30PM today,

Changes from previous update

• Accumulating precipitation has exited the area, though icing impacts remain across much of the area from earlier precipitation

• The Winter Storm Warning and Winter Weather Advisory are still in effect but will be cancelled with the 4pm forecast update

Overview:

WHAT: Lingering icy conditions and Frigid Cold

WHEN: Tonight through tomorrow night

WHERE: All of Southeast Louisiana and Southwest and Coastal Mississippi tonight, mainly areas north of the I-10 corridor and the river parishes Tuesday night

CONFIDENCE: We are very confident in the occurrence of dangerously cold temperatures tonight/Tuesday morning, with a additional freezing temperatures Tuesday night.

Impacts:

Ice and Snow Accumulation:

• No additional accumulation is expected
• Accumulated ice/sleet/snow will remain in areas generally northwest of a line from Houma to LaPlace to Bogalusa and will continue to lead to unsafe travel conditions where ice isa accumulated on roads/bridges
• In areas where the temperature is above freezing, any lingering water will have a window of a couple hours to dry before temperatures begin to fall again. Any liquid that remains on roadways by this evening/tonight will freeze with the cold temperatures
• Icy conditions may persist into Wednesday morning in the areas with the highest accumulations as it may not have time to melt and dry Tuesday afternoon before temperatures drop below freezing again Tuesday night.

Freeze/Hard Freeze:

• Low temperatures tonight in the teens to mid 20s are forecast for all of Southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi except perhaps the immediate LA Coast where temperatures may bottom out in the upper 20s and lower 30s. Wind chills will be in the teens and single digits across the entire area.

• These conditions could result in significant damage to unprotected pipes as well as citrus and other sensitive agricultural crops.

• These temperatures and wind chills will be especially dangerous to people who may not have a way to warm their homes due to power outage

• Freezing temperatures are expected again Tuesday night for all of the area except for the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain east of a line from Houma to LaPlace

Graphics:

Hour-by-hour forecasts for specific locations can be accessed on our website (www.weather.gov/neworleans) by using the point and click map in the middle of the page. From the point-specific forecast page, click the "Hourly Weather Forecast" on the right side of the page under "Additional Resources". Here you can determine specific times for when locations will be above or below freezing.

Additional Information and Resources:

NWS New Orleans Website: www.weather.gov/neworleans

NWS New Orleans DSS Website: http://www.weather.gov/lix/embrief

NWS New Orleans Facebook: www.facebook.com/NWSNewOrleans

NWS New Orleans Twitter: https://twitter.com/NWSNewOrleans

Online Weather Reporting: https://www.weather.gov/lix/submit_storm_report

Next Update and Contact Information:

The next update will be sent tomorrow afternoon regarding any lingering ice threats and additional cold temperatures for tomorrow night. As always, if you have any questions in the interim or need additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.  We can be reached by phone at 504-522-7330 or 985-649-0429.  Use extension 4 to speak with a forecaster.  Alternatively, you can reach us by email by replying to this message or sending an email to sr-lix.forecasters@noaa.gov. Both methods will be delivered to the forecasters on shift at the office.

Regards,
Danielle Manning
Meteorologist
NWS New Orleans/Baton Rouge