Cold/Wind Chill in Upper St. Martin, Louisiana

A deep upper level trough moving eastward across the United States forced a bitterly cold Arctic airmass southward from Canada into the Gulf Coast states on January 7, 2010. This airmass remained in place for several days across southwest Louisiana, leading to the coldest temperatures seen across this region since February 1996. Several record low temperatures were set, along with a few record low maximum temperatures. Many locations in central Louisiana remained below freezing for over 36 hours from around midnight early on January 8th through the afternoon on Saturday January 9th.

These bitterly cold temperatures led to several school closures, numerous weather-related fires, sporadic power outages, and widespread plumbing ruptures across the region. One man reportedly froze to death outdoors in Mossville in Calcasieu Parish.