It’s been almost exactly a year since a historic 10 inches of snow blanketed New Orleans in January 2025, forcing local schools and businesses to close for days as residents took to the streets to build snowmen, sled and take in the majesty of the rare phenomenon.
Now, there’s a chance for more snow in the Crescent City’s forecast this weekend, but local meteorologists say the odds of seeing another major winter storm are slim to none.
WVUE-TV meteorologist Zack Fradella said Thursday that this year’s winter storm is shaping up to be a “big disappointment,” despite the countless weather graphics circulating on social media showing the potential for snow across much of the Deep South.
“Now this system does have potential but I think that potential is greater along the East Coast when it can pull itself together,” Fradella wrote on Facebook. “Don’t be shocked if we barely see any rain as this blows through Saturday night.”
National Weather Service forecasters in the New Orleans office said Thursday that the city’s chance for snow depends on where moisture associated with an incoming cold front ends up over the weekend. The front is expected to move through southeast Louisiana on Saturday, bringing the potential for rain or some kind of wintry precipitation — sleet or snow — and overnight lows at or near freezing.
If the moisture spreads north across the region, it could bring some snowfall to southeast Louisiana, which NWS forecaster Kevin Gilmore said would most likely start as rain Saturday evening and transform as temperatures drop into a wet snow overnight into Sunday morning. The front and moisture should move east out of the region early Sunday, Gilmore said.
If anyone gets snow, it would be east of Interstate 55 and coastal Mississippi, he said. The chances drop off significantly west and south of that.
But, Gilmore said, it’s more likely that moisture associated with the front moves further south into the Gulf, leaving the New Orleans area dry and cold.
Overnight lows will remain just below freezing for the northshore Saturday and Sunday night, he said, and in the mid to upper 30s in New Orleans. While pets and sensitive plants will need protection, Gilmore said a lasting, hard freeze that could threaten plumbing is not expected.
Still, Gilmore said forecasters are keeping a close eye on the potential for even a little bit of snow, which he said “causes all kinds of problems” this deep in the South.
“I would say that due to the low confidence in the forecast, just to stay tuned,” he said.
