Mardi Gras celebrations in New Orleans could be canceled as severe storms rumble through the South, bringing strong winds and the threat of tornadoes Tuesday.
Parades have already been scheduled to take place earlier than planned and some events have been canceled in the Big Easy as thunderstorms will roll through the city, bringing damaging winds over 60 mph and possibly 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 Rouge, Jefferson Parish and New Orleans — from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT, according to the 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 the Rex — will start earlier than normal and on on shorter routes because of the weather. Meanwhile, all carnival parades in Jefferson Parish were canceled because of high wind concerns.
Dust storm in El Paso, Texas.National Weather Service El Paso
“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 the Northeast through tomorrow, rain from the Midwest to the 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 because of 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 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 the 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.
