NEW ORLEANS — There is a severe weather threat Thursday that could impact the evening parades including the Knights of Babylon, Knights of Chaos and the Krewe of Muses.
But, despite the chances of rain, the city of New Orleans and the krewes are planning on going full speed ahead.
"Based on the current forecast models and weather tracking, all Thursday evening parades will roll at their scheduled time and on their scheduled routes," said a statement from the city.
The latest forecast from WWL-TV Meteorologist Michelle Morgan says there will be rain "off and on" throughout the late afternoon into the evening.
"The thunderstorms could impact the parades. Showers and thunderstorms will pop up after 5, but the good news is that it isn't going to rain all night."
Muses Captain Staci Rosenberg showed off some of the Muses shoes including a fried chicken shoe, stack of pancakes shoe, and ice cream shoe. They also have specialty throws including tea towels, beanies, and a light up scrunchies. Rosenberg said they will make sure their throws are kept out of the rain if it is a wet night.
"Putting tarps on our throws so people don’t catch things that are wet if it rains, which we hope and believe the weather goddesses will take care of us," Rosenberg said.
Muses is set to roll following Chaos and Babylon which is set to lead the way Thursday evening starting at 5:30.
"We can parade in a little bit of rain," said Babylon Captain Jack Jacob. "Hopefully the weather will be kind to us and we’ll have a big crowd out.”
Director of New Orleans Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Collin Arnold, is keeping a close eye on the weather and receiving frequent updates from the National Weather Service.
"Muses is probably in better shape tomorrow for it being later because that weather is going to move on its way and be out of the area," Arnold said.
In 2020, the Thursday parades moved to Friday because of strong winds. Arnold said the wind isn't a concern this year, but strong storms are.
"We will parade in the rain, that is not an issue, it happens frequently. Our concern is lightning within 10 miles, not just thunder, but lightning within 10 miles of the parade route and winds 35, 40 miles an hour." Arnold said.
He's confident any severe weather will move through early enough to allow parades to roll Thursday evening.
"I think probably what we’ll see is there will be the ability to parade tomorrow at this point. There may be some jockeying of time, we may, instead of rolling at 5:30, we may look at 6, 6:15," Arnold said.
"A little rain drop is not going to kill you, we will be there with more stuff for you if anyone else isn't there," Rosenberg said.
Arnold said a new start time could be a last minute decision.
“It literally could be made at the time they roll,” Arnold said.
If the parades roll in rain, the marching groups and bands can each make their own call to participate or not.
"They may decide even though the parade is rolling, we have kids in marching bands, it may not be the best conditions for them to be walking where it's slick and they can hurt themselves," Arnold said.