On Tuesday, the National Weather Service office for New Orleans officially recorded 8 inches of snow at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. (Some citizens recorded additional measurements, including Minnesota native Marta Jewson, a reporter for The Lens, who, armed with a metal ruler, recorded 11 inches of snow in the Mid-City neighborhood.) 

As it turns out, similar winter storms have hit the city before. On Feb. 15, 1895, in an unofficial record, New Orleanians measured 10 inches of snow at Audubon Park. 

As a meteorologist told The Lens, the record snowfall stemmed from an unusual marriage of Arctic and Gulf-fed air. On Sunday, an extremely strong Arctic blast invaded Louisiana from the north, creating cool and dry conditions. Then a low-pressure system, known as a “Gulf low,” moved up from the south, carrying moisture from the Gulf of Mexico that turned to snow in the frigid air. 

New Orleans hasn’t seen measurable snow for 15 years, since 2009. During that time, plenty of winter cold fronts have hit the city. But they didn’t produce snow, because they didn’t line up with a moist low-pressure system like the Gulf low.

But early this week, the two systems were in sync. “The Gulf low pattern just timed up really well with a really cold front,” said meteorologist Hannah Lisney, with the National Weather Service office that covers New Orleans and Baton Rouge. 

For people in wintry northern cities where the ground is largely bare, the bountiful white flakes in New Orleans inspired envy.

On Wednesday, the National Weather Service in Anchorage tweeted a message to its Southern colleagues. “@NWSNewOrleans, we’d like our snow back,” they quipped. And if that wasn’t possible, at least send a slice of king cake.

As it turns out, even 8 inches – the official National Weather Service reading for the one-day New Orleans total – dwarfs Alaska’s snowfall this winter. It’s more than twice the amount of snow that has fallen in Anchorage in December and January this year.

The mismatch in snowfalls between New Orleans and northern cities has raised speculation about how this storm fits into larger national trends. But the paradoxical timing of record snow on the Gulf Coast and destructive wildfires in Los Angeles is coincidental, according to Michael Buchanan, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office for New Orleans. Like any one-time weather event, the snowstorm cannot be immediately linked to climate change—that takes further study, he said.

Certainly, the one-day storm socked it to New Orleans, leaving freeways and bridges closed and most workplaces and stores shuttered. That recovery process is still underway – amid record snowfalls combined with extremely frigid temperatures across the state. 

But many New Orleanians didn’t miss a beat, as throngs headed outside to celebrate the once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm.

Throughout Tuesday’s historic snow day, the Big Easy maintained its identity. Brass band members dressed in beanies and parkas led spontaneous parades in their neighborhoods. Inspired by the winter wonderland, Louis Michot, two-time Grammy-winning frontman of the Lost Bayou Ramblers, penned a new Cajun song – Bayou PonPon Geleé. 

People cross-country skied on Bourbon Street and played ice hockey along frozen Canal Street. And some locals used crawfish-boil platters as makeshift sleds to ride down the Mississippi River levees. 

On Wednesday, with much of New Orleans iced over, making many roads and freeways too dangerous to traverse by car, people continued the winter revelry – building snowmen, throwing snowballs during massive snowball fights in New Orleans City Park and along Bayou St. John, and walking in groups to sled down hills.

Meanwhile, across Louisiana, state and city staffers worked to re-open roads and to keep people safe, in the face of harsh elements: accumulated snowfall combined with record cold.

New Orleans officials have warned residents to stay off the roads since early Tuesday morning, when flakes began hitting the ground. The city will likely be iced in until at least Friday, as the snow compacts into ice, melts slightly during the day and refreezes at night, warned Collin Arnold, the city’s Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness director. 

The Regional Transit Authority will also remain closed through Friday, with hopes to restore bus service over the weekend.

To clear streets, the city secured 14 snowplows on an emergency contract with Sherco Group, Inc., an Indiana-based company. Vehicles from the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development are applying salt and sand, also provided by Sherco. The city also hired IV Waste to help clear snow in the French Quarter – using trucks typically reserved for Mardi Gras clean-up.

New Orleans did not set a new record-low temperature this week, though temperatures dropped quickly on Tuesday after the flurries ceased, leaving much snow on the ground. But several cities across Louisiana dropped into single digits on Tuesday night, after the storm. Across Lake Pontchartrain, Slidell tied its all-time cold record at 8° F. Northeast of New Orleans, Baton Rouge broke its previous record at 7° F.

And in Acadiana, Lafayette shattered records at 4° F, after a day of extended low visibility and sustained winds strong enough to classify the winter storm as a true blizzard, according to the National Weather Service of Lake Charles. That’s “significant and unprecedented,” said meteorologist Stacey Denson, who said that the record amount of snowpack on the ground led to the landmark low temperatures.

“We don’t get snow that often to begin with, but when we do it’ll be maybe two inches at most – and that will melt within the day,” said Denson. Tuesday’s cold temperatures kept nine inches of snow on the ground in Lafayette, creating perfect conditions for record overnight lows, she said.

The cold was also a pressing concern in New Orleans, where the city opened two “warming shelters” at Rosenwald Center in Central City and the Treme Community Center while readying a third shelter, the St. Bernard Rec Center off St. Bernard Avenue.

Meanwhile, residents have spent the week trying to prevent frozen or burst water pipes. The exposed pipes under the city’s raised homes and along home exteriors can be especially vulnerable during an extended cold snap, even for those who “drip water” from sinks and tubs whenever temps dip below 32° F. 

The snow is expected to melt this weekend in New Orleans, as temperatures return to more typical Carnival-season weather. Fortunately, for the city’s archaic drainage system, the snow should melt without causing too much strain on the pumps, according to the National Weather Service – because the ice crystals that compose snow take up more volume than liquid water.