Louisiana will see its first heat wave of 2024 this week in an interruption of spring weather, National Weather Service forecasters predict.
The high temperatures will arrive close to a year after Louisiana shattered heat records. Residents in southeast Louisiana, specifically New Orleans and Baton Rouge, persevered through the hottest year on record in 2023.
NWS forecasters predict temperatures will climb to a high of 88 degrees Wednesday in New Orleans and Lafayette before peaking in the 90s on Thursday. It will be warmer in Baton Rouge and Shreveport. Both Louisiana cities are forecast to see multiple 90-degree days in a row.
It rarely gets this warm this early in Louisiana. Typically, 90-degree temperatures or higher don't arrive until June or July, NWS climate records from the last 30 years show.
Thursday will be the hottest day of 2024 so far in New Orleans and Lafayette, with temperatures in both cities climbing near 91 degrees. It will significantly cool down at night as lows drop to 72 degrees, forecasters say.
In Baton Rouge, temperatures will stay in the 90s for three days in a row. Tuesday highs will be near 90 degrees. Daytime highs on Wednesday will be around 93, and it'll be even hotter on Thursday with a high of 94 degrees, according to the NWS.
Forecasters predict that Baton Rouge's overnight lows will stay in the 70s Tuesday and Wednesday, with the most extreme temperature dip — near 69 degrees — happening Thursday night
Shreveport will have daytime highs near 91 degrees Tuesday and Wednesday. Overnight lows will drop to the 70s both days.
New Orleans experienced extreme temperatures for 17 days straight last July. Ten of those days climbed up to triple-digit temperatures. And, like the Crescent City, Baton Rouge's temperatures averaged about four degrees warmer than previous years, according to the National Weather Service.