Cold/Wind Chill — Caddo, Louisiana

2010-01-07 to 2010-01-10 · Caddo, Louisiana

Event narrative

Bitterly cold temperatures swept into the region during the evening hours of January 7th with a hard freeze being observed nearly through the morning hours of January 10th. During this period of time...overnight and early morning low temperatures were well into the teens with daytime high temperatures struggling to make it to the freezing mark. The cold temperatures froze water pipes of many homes throughout the parish. Some city and parish water lines burst as well resulting in many residents either without water for a short period of time or with reduced water pressure. Leaks pushed city water usage number to 55 million gallons per day on Sunday the 9th, when 35 million gallons per day is closer to normal for early January. Flames broke out in a trailer in the 4100 block of Rainer Street, in Caddo Parish, just on the north side of the Shreveport city line. A homeless man was apparently using kerosene to keep warm when the trailer he was staying in caught fire and the man died.

Wider weather episode

An arctic air mass moved southward out of the Central Plains and took up residence across all of southern Arkansas, southeast Oklahoma, northeast Texas as well as northwest Louisiana. This air mass was initially accompanied by strong north winds which resulted in wind chill advisories for the region as wind chill temperatures dropped from just below zero to the single digits across the region. Ambient temperatures during the nights of January 7th through January 9th fell well into the teens across the entire region with low temperatures as low as the single digits above zero across portions of southwest Arkansas and southeast Oklahoma. This frigid air mass was not accompanied by any precipitation, but the elongated period of bitterly cold temperatures resulted in widespread freezing and bursting of pipes across the region. Many residents had to deal with either low water pressure or periods of no water at all as many city and county/parish water lines burst as well.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 203409. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.