Extreme winds and possible storms expected on Tuesday have forced the cancellation of Mardi Gras parades in Jefferson Parish, La., as officials in neighboring New Orleans moved up parade starting times because of the forecast.
The National Weather Service is warning that strong winds, with gusts reaching up to 60 miles per hour, will begin early in the morning, creating potentially hazardous conditions for parade floats and spectators.
“I’m going to cut to the chase with very disappointing news,” the Jefferson Parish president, Cynthia Lee Sheng, said at a news conference on Monday. “Tomorrow’s weather, especially the gusty winds, is severe enough that we have no other choice other than to cancel our scheduled parades for tomorrow.”
There are two parades in Jefferson Parish on Mardi Gras. The Krewe of Argus was scheduled to roll with 20 floats through Metairie, La., followed by the Krewe of Elks Jeffersonians with 43 floats.
Collin Arnold, the director of New Orleans Homeland Security, told New Orleans’s Fox affiliate that strong winds could create a public safety hazard for the floats, riders and spectators in the early part of the day, with the potential for tornadoes and thunderstorms later in the afternoon.
The New Orleans Police Department said on social media that it was adjusting the starting times of its Zulu and Rex parades, with Zulu set to begin earlier at 7 a.m., and Rex starting around 9 a.m. Both would be slightly pared down, with “no additional elements,” officials said.
Ms. Sheng, the Jefferson Parish president, noted that, historically, transit buses stop operating when wind gusts exceed 35 m.p.h., and Entergy, the region’s public utility, forbids workers from going up in bucket trucks unless the winds are blowing at 30 m.p.h. or less.
Because the strong winds are expected so early in the morning, Ms. Sheng said, it was not practical for officials to consider an earlier parade start time.
“Let me state the obvious: These are not conditions where we would invite families, including the elderly and children, to stand on our streets out in the open,” she said. “These are not conditions for people to be elevated on floats.”
“We have kids on ladders, we have maids with beautiful head pieces,” she added.
Ms. Sheng said it would be up to the parade organizers to decide whether to reschedule the parades for a later date.
The cancellation of the Jefferson Parish parades came as a powerful weather system was moving east from New Mexico and Texas, bringing severe conditions as early as Monday evening to parts of southeast Kansas, Oklahoma and North Texas.
Meteorologists predict that strengthening winds and an influx of warm, moist air from the Gulf will create favorable conditions for severe weather. By Tuesday afternoon and evening, conditions in the region will be ripe for severe storms, especially in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Forecasters have warned of damaging gusts, hail and possible tornadoes from eastern Oklahoma through Alabama. The Storm Prediction Center has issued an enhanced risk, a level three out of five, for severe weather across these areas, warning of damaging wind gusts, tornadoes and large hail.
Nazaneen Ghaffar contributed reporting.