Are you ready for the ice storm of 2026?
State Climatologist Jay Grymes says the icy conditions will begin to develop Friday night.
“Rain and the coldest of the air, where we start to see freezing problems in northwest Louisiana will begin Friday night and everything will advance to the east and the southeast rolling through Saturday into Sunday,” Grymes said.
The I-20 corridor to the Arkansas border is under a winter storm warning until noon on Sunday. Grymes says a combination of freezing rain, sleet and snow can be expected.
‘Icing amounts that could be as much as a half an inch or more along and near the I-20 corridor, icing of that magnitude is going to cause some significant problems,” Grymes said.
Grymes says central Louisiana will see freezing rain as well. Even the towns of Leesville and DeRidder could see up to a quarter inch of ice Saturday night into Sunday. The National Weather Service says a glazing of ice is possible along the I-10/I-12 corridor west of Hammond.
The combination of snow and sleet could be between one and three inches, north of the I-20 corridor.
“Snow is more than likely going to remain north of Alexandria, but it’s going to complicate issues in the northern part of the state where we get the snow on top of the ice,” Grymes said.
With the incoming ice storm, Governor Landry has declared a state of emergency. Landry says while Louisiana had a historic snow event last year, snow is easier to deal with than ice.
“The best that I can remember last year, we didn’t have many, if any power outages due to the snow storm, ice accumulates on trees, on the lines, and then it causes them to fail,” Landry said.
Landry says his state of emergency declaration allows for additional resources in north and central Louisiana. The declaration also contains a waiver that will bring additional gas to areas seeing shortage. The governor says everyone needs to look after each other.
“Check on your neighbors, protect your property, make sure that you have good necessities like food, adequate water, medication and heat, understand that you may go sometime, especially in north Louisiana without electricity,” Landry said.
The last time Louisiana had a major ice storm was February 2021. Some were without power for two weeks, and the state reported at least six fatalities tied to the storm. Landry says once the wintry precipitation starts falling, stay off the roads.
“If we do end up with a snow event, after the rain event, the problem with that, people are like I can drive through an inch of snow, but if there is ice underneath there that is extremely dangerous,” Landry said.
For the latest on road closures go to 511la.org.