An ‘abbreviated’ Mardi Gras rolls ahead of anticipated severe weather
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Mardi Gras 2025 festivities are underway in “fast and furious” fashion.
With a line of anticipated storms moving through the area that produce high winds in the evening, Zulu and Rex parades started earlier than usual with a limited number of marching bands. Their routes have also been shortened to clear the streets by 11:30 Tuesday (March 4) morning.
Around 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Rex’s parade route changed again. The parade will end at St. Charles and Calliope.
The Carnival in Covington parade has been moved up to 9:15 a.m. The Krewe of Bogue Falaya will roll at 10 a.m.
In Lafourche Parish, the Krewe of Chana and Shaka will begin at 8 a.m. in Thibodaux. The Krewe of Gheens will roll at 10:30 a.m. and the Krewe of Neptune will start at 11 a.m. in Golden Meadow.
Only floats will roll in the Krewe of Houmas parade in Terrebonne Parish at 11 a.m.
Parades in Jefferson Parish and Folsom were canceled.
YOUR CARNIVAL AUTHORITY
Despite the shortening of parades, plenty of new and traditional Mardi Gras social events will still take place around the city rain or shine.
The North Side Skull and Bone Gang did their traditional march through the Treme, waking residents up before sunrise to celebrate the final day of Carnival. The tradition is over 200 years old and the roots trace back to African spirituality.
The French Quarter is still expected to receive large crowds, even as storm and high-wind forecasts say there’s a potential for heavy rains and tornadoes.
A certain furry friend, Scrim the Dog, captured the hearts and minds of New Orleanians, the nation, and beyond as sightings of him around the city following his multiple escapes became sport. Scrim, looking more like Fox 8 anchor Rob Krieger, is unleashed again, running amuck between Mardi Gras festivities all over the city.
Zulu got the party started with the earlier roll time of 6:30 a.m.
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Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans could be cancelled as severe storms rumble through the South, bringing strong winds and the threat of tornadoes on Tuesday.
Parades have already been scheduled to taken place earlier than planned and some events have been cancelled in the Big Easy as thunderstorms will roll through the city, bringing damaging winds over 60 mph and possible small hail, the National Weather Service office in New Orleans forecasts.
Tornadoes could reach a rating of EF-2, with winds of between 111 and 135 mph.
The severe weather is expected to hit in the afternoon into evening, moving west to east.
A high wind warning covers southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi — including Baton Rogue, Jefferson Parish, and New Orleans — from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT, according to the National Weather Service.
It comes as millions of tourists and locals bedecked in beads, costumes, and purple, yellow and green have flocked to the party city to revel in raucous Fat Tuesday festivities including iconic parades, music and food.
The weather service warned that Mardi Gras floats and high profile vehicles “could become unstable at times.” Damaging wind could blow down trees and power lines, making isolated power outages possible in the area.
“If the National Weather forecast turns from a watch for severe wind to a warning, I will cancel the parades at that point, no matter what point that is,” New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick warned in a news conference.
Two of the biggest parades — the Zulu and Rex — will start earlier than normal and on on shorter routes due to the weather. Meanwhile, all Carnival parades in Jefferson Parish were cancelled due to high wind concerns.
“Due to the forecasted high winds and potential threat to public safety, we have made the difficult decision to cancel parades on Mardi Gras Day. This is disappointing but our top priority is ensuring the well-being of everyone in our community, and we must always prioritize safety above all else,” Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said.
But the change of plans won’t stop revelers.
“We from New Orleans so we out here anyways, it don’t even matter. Rain or shine, we’re outside,” a participant told NBC’s Jesse Kirsch in New Orleans.
Much of the country is under alerts due to a major March storm that will bring snow to the Central Plains to Northeast through tomorrow, rain from the Midwest to eastern seaboard, fire threat and fierce winds.
This morning, there was ground stop at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, that later turned into a ground delay.
A line of thunderstorms will cross Texas into Louisiana today. More than 350,000 energy customers were without power Tuesday morning across central Texas due to storms, according to PowerOutage.us.
To the north, 16 million people are under winter weather alerts from Marquette, Michigan, to Aspen, Colorado.
Meanwhile, there are wind alerts for 85 million including New Orleans. The alert stretches from Roswell, Arizona, to Dothan, Alabama, to the east, and north up to Davenport, Iowa.
Fire alerts are also in place for much of Texas into Arizona, and 27 million are under severe weather threat from Fort Smith, Arkansas, to Pensacola, Florida, for tornadoes.
Dust storms created nearly zero-visibility conditions in parts of New Mexico and west Texas on Monday. There, a high wind warning is in place through the evening. The National Weather Service in Midland and Odessa warned that widespread potentially damaging wind gusts up to 65 mph are expected, and “winds and blowing dust may be dangerous to drivers.”
On Tuesday, snow and wind will hit the Plains and Midwest, coupled with a tornado threat from Texas to the Florida Panhandle, with wind gusts over 75 mph likely, a few strong tornadoes possible and damaging hail up to 1 inch or larger, NBC’s Al Roker forecast.
Come Wednesday, the storm will sweep into the East Coast, creating severe risk from Florida to Pennsylvania, and heavy snow to parts of the Midwest.
Marlene Lenthang is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
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