NEW ORLEANS — An Arctic air mass is forecast to bring hazardous conditions to the Gulf South, including southeast Louisiana and Mississippi starting late Thursday night and continuing through Christmas Day.
According to the National Weather Service in New Orleans, the cold front is expected to move through the region during the evening hours on Thursday, with temperatures dropping as much as 30 degrees in just a few hours. Temperatures will continue to plummet through the early morning hours, with almost the entire area below freezing around sunrise.
The air mass will bring extreme cold, strong and possibly damaging winds, dangerous wind chills, and hazardous driving conditions due to wind.
"Now is the time to start taking measures to protect your family, pets, friends, property, and yourself from the likelihood of extreme and prolonged freezing conditions for southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana," a Special Weather Statement from the NWS said.
The strong winds will bring wind chill readings into the teens and possibly single digits, with some areas further north possibly experiencing a wind chill below zero. The wind chill does not impact pipes but can quickly lead to hypothermia for people and animals.
Wind gusts higher than 40 mph are possible and could be a hazard for drivers, especially in taller, high-profile vehicles. These winds will be especially apparent on major east-west highways, and elevated bridges like the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, and the Interstate 10 Twin Span bridges. The NWS recommends that drivers should pack an emergency kit to stay warm in their car when traveling in case they get caught on the roads by traffic or an accident and get stuck in cold weather for long periods.
Temperatures are forecast to struggle to get above freezing and could cause problems for pipes in areas that could be below freezing for 24 to possibly even 36 hours. in Southwestern Mississippi and surrounding Louisiana parishes, even if temperatures do rise above freezing on Friday or Saturday, they will only be above 32 degrees for a short time.
Conditions will not improve until Christmas day when the area will finally comfortably get above 32 degrees for an extended period.
The NWS said that this air mass is expected to be more potent than the 2010 and 2021 events.
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