Posted in Louisiana History December 15, 2022 by

It Was So Cold In Louisiana In 2021, Single-Digit Temperatures Broke Century-Old Records

Winters in Louisiana are generally pretty mild, especially when you compare temperatures to our friends up north. While it’s true there have been many flip-flop and tank-top Christmasses, there have been a few winters in Louisiana that have made the history books. Historically, the winter of 1899 was the coldest winter in Louisiana, where Minden saw -16° F for a day or two. While Minden hasn’t come close to those temperatures in the last century, we have seen some record-breaking temperatures elsewhere in the Pelican State.

There are a few winters in recent years that have stood out from the pack: 2008, 2018, and 2021.
Lindsay Attaway/Wikimedia
In 2008, a good chunk of the state received an early white Christmas thanks to a rare Arctic blast that swept through the south on December 11, 2008.
Lake Charles set an all-time record snowfall total with 0.4 inches, which was only the second time in history that measurable snow has occurred in December in Lake Charles.
Lindsay Hickman/Wikimedia
If the southern part of the state sees snow, it typically does not stick to the ground long enough to measure!

Lafayette also broke a record in December of 2008 with one whole inch! The previous record was at zero, so the bar was set pretty low.
Further north, much more snow was reported.
Wormwould/Flickr
Both Opelousas and Washington saw six inches that day, with Ville Platte clocking in at five inches!
Almost a decade later, the winter of 2018 was brutally cold for most of North America, and the southeast part of the country broke several records.
Chris Graythen/Getty Images News via Getty Images
An early winter storm swept through on November 13, and Monroe woke up to 0.4 inches of snow, breaking the record for earliest snowfall by 10 days. We also saw New Orleans reach new record lows this particular winter, with recordings of 20 degrees at MSY Airport. The previous record was 23 degrees set in 1977!
Most recently, the winter of 2021 came with less snow, but much more ice and bone-chilling temperatures. And it came for our beloved Mardi Gras!
Matt Marco/EyeEm via Getty Images
February 16, 2021 - Mardi Gras Day - a day when just about every Louisianian is either knee-deep in a roux or a parade, was instead spent bundled up inside trying to warm up. Icy conditions threatened the safety of parades, so most were canceled. It was an extra hard hit since the pandemic had canceled the parade the year prior.
Northern Louisiana took the worst of the bitter temperatures, and Shreveport clocked one degree that day. One. Degree.
Dan Kroes/Flickr
The previous record for that day was 20 degrees in 1903. The all-time record low for Shreveport is -5 degrees, which was set in 1899 - the same year that Minden saw a bone-chilling -16 degrees.
While we've yet to see anywhere near those temperatures this winter, who knows what will happen!
Michael McCarthy/Flickr
If you live in an area that does happen to see some snow, do yourself a favor and find the closest bayou, swamp, or marsh and take some photos! It's not every day that you get to see some sneaux on the bayou. It's a bit of a brain-bender, right?

Winters in Louisiana can be all over the place, and if you’ve never experienced one before, here are some tips for making it through a winter in Louisiana. 

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