Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in New Orleans is from February, October, November, but considering flight prices and crowds, the best months to visit are February, November, December. — consistent weather climate
⛈Hot & rainy
| Score | 60 | 76 | 73 | 74 | 69 | 42 | 22 | 21 | 57 | 79 | 81 | 70 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Cool & rainy | Cool & rainy | Humid | Humid | Humid | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Hot & rainy | Humid | Mild | Cool & rainy |
| Temperature | 9–16°C | 11–19°C | 15–22°C | 17–25°C | 21–28°C | 24–30°C | 25–31°C | 26–31°C | 24–29°C | 19–26°C | 14–21°C | 12–18°C |
| Feels like | 6–15°C | 9–18°C | 13–22°C | 17–26°C | 23–31°C | 28–35°C | 30–37°C | 30–37°C | 27–34°C | 20–28°C | 13–21°C | 10–18°C |
| Precipitation | 114mm 9 days | 107mm 10 days | 131mm 11 days | 121mm 11 days | 138mm 12 days | 199mm 16 days | 204mm 18 days | 225mm 18 days | 167mm 14 days | 104mm 8 days | 94mm 8 days | 142mm 10 days |
| Sunshine | 7.5h ☀︎ 72% | 8.0h ☀︎ 71% | 9.0h ☀︎ 75% | 9.8h ☀︎ 76% | 11.1h ☀︎ 81% | 11.3h ☀︎ 81% | 10.6h ☀︎ 77% | 10.0h ☀︎ 76% | 10.2h ☀︎ 82% | 9.6h ☀︎ 84% | 8.1h ☀︎ 77% | 7.1h ☀︎ 69% |
| Wind | NE · 23 km/h | SE · 24 km/h | SE · 23 km/h | SE · 23 km/h | SE · 19 km/h | S · 17 km/h | SW · 15 km/h | S · 16 km/h | E · 16 km/h | E · 19 km/h | NE · 20 km/h | E · 21 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 76% | 78% | 77% | 74% | 76% | 79% | 82% | 80% | 79% | 75% | 76% | 80% |
| Day length | 10.5h | 11.1h | 12.0h | 12.9h | 13.7h | 14.0h | 13.9h | 13.2h | 12.3h | 11.4h | 10.6h | 10.3h |
| Tourist Crowds | Low season | Shoulder season | High season | High season | High season | High season | High season | Low season | Low season | High season | High season | Shoulder season |
Mardi Gras is New Orleans' most iconic celebration, a vibrant carnival season filled with parades, elaborate costumes, a…
Jazz Fest is a world-renowned celebration of music, food, and culture, featuring hundreds of artists across multiple sta…
The Essence Festival of Culture is one of the largest annual African-American music and cultural festivals in the United…
The French Quarter Festival is the largest free music festival in the United States, showcasing local musicians and cuis…
Southern Decadence is one of the largest LGBTQ+ events in the United States, a vibrant celebration of queer culture with…
Tales of the Cocktail is the world's premier cocktail festival, bringing together bartenders, distillers, and cocktail e…
Voodoo Fest is a major music and arts festival held around Halloween, featuring a diverse lineup of rock, hip-hop, elect…
Christmas New Orleans Style is a month-long celebration featuring festive decorations, caroling, holiday home tours, and…
The Crescent City Classic is a popular 10k road race that winds through the scenic streets of New Orleans, attracting ru…
Satchmo SummerFest is a lively tribute to jazz legend Louis Armstrong, featuring traditional jazz performances, educatio…
A meteorologist will tell you to visit New Orleans in November when the air is crisp and dry, but they do not understand the city; February is when the Big Easy is at its raw, beating best.
New Orleans is not a destination that yields to polite calendar planning. Built into a curve along the Mississippi River, this is a city forged in damp air, shaded wrought-iron verandas, sweet olive blossoms, and sidewalk brass bands that play straight through the afternoon. Mainstream travel advice routinely nudges visitors toward late autumn to avoid downpours and swelter, but that guidance misses the emotional core of the place. New Orleans was never meant to be experienced under sterile, orderly skies. It demands to be met when the neighborhood streets hum with collective revelry, when porch lights flicker on against the twilight, and when the entire town surrenders to its own eccentric rhythm.
January arrives with an unexpected jolt. The month carries the heaviest foot traffic of the year, bringing a sudden rush of visitors into the historic center alongside chilly, damp river air and the opening salvos of parade season. It can feel chaotic and gray, with the town finding its footing after the holidays.
February, however, is the masterclass. The chill softens into brisk, jacket-weather afternoons, hovering comfortably in the high teens. This is the heart of Mardi Gras, when the city transforms into an open-air theater of brass bands, elaborate handmade costumes, and neighborhood krewes winding past the balconies of the French Quarter.
November may claim marginally drier afternoons, but November lacks the soul-stirring momentum that defines New Orleans. February gives you the city operating at full tilt, where strangers gather under moss-hung trees, flambeaux torches illuminate evening streets, and music spills continuously across Jackson Square.
Spring is when life moves outdoors and stays there. March shakes off the last bite of winter, leading into an April and May stretch where the warmth builds steadily and the air smells of jasmine and crawfish boils. While humidity begins to creep up from the Gulf, river breezes keep the days remarkably comfortable for wandering.
This corridor represents the city's great musical harvest. Early April brings the French Quarter Festival, a sprawling, joyous gathering that scatters stages across courtyards and riverfront parks, celebrating indigenous jazz and Creole cooking without pretense. Athletic crowds gather for the Crescent City Classic, racing under live oak canopies and past the stately Greek Revival mansions of the Garden District.
By late April and early May, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival takes center stage over back-to-back weekends. Crowds stand in sunlit infields balancing plates of cochon de lait po-boys while brass, blues, and gospel pour from every tent. By the close of May, afternoon heat begins to push toward summer levels, signaling that veranda season is coming to an end.
June through August is an unapologetic trial by heat. The air along the Mississippi River turns thick and heavy, feeling closer to steam than atmosphere. Sudden, drenching afternoon cloudbursts routinely flood the gutters and send sheets of vapor rising off the asphalt, driving anyone outdoors into the nearest doorway.
Yet the city does not shutter; it merely shifts indoors and adjusts its swagger. In July, the massive Essence Festival of Culture takes over the city, filling air-conditioned arenas with an energetic celebration of Black music, fashion, and community. Later in the month, cocktail historians and bartenders from around the world convene for Tales of the Cocktail, turning historic hotel lounges and shaded cocktail rooms into tasting labs.
August remains brutally hot, but traditionalists still brave the midday warmth for Satchmo SummerFest to honor Louis Armstrong with fiery cornet sets and icy drinks. The survival strategy for midsummer is simple and non-negotiable: wake early, walk the quiet streets of the French Quarter before ten, retreat into darkened dining rooms or museum halls through the burning hours, and do not venture back out toward Bourbon Street until twilight has cooled the stone.
September opens with Southern Decadence, an irreverent, color-drenched celebration that sweeps through the lower end of the Quarter over Labor Day weekend, defying the lingering summer heat with street parades and block parties. By October, the furnace finally breaks. Halloween in New Orleans is a masterwork of macabre pageantry, anchored in late October by the multi-genre stages of the Voodoo Music + Arts Experience, where cool evening air makes outdoor festival life a pleasure again.
November brings textbook meteorological perfection: virtually no rain, bright sunshine, and gentle 21°C afternoons. It is undeniably easy to walk Frenchmen Street without breaking a sweat. But that ease comes at the cost of the city's pulse. November feels oddly subdued, resting between the heat of autumn festivals and the impending storm of Carnival.
December closes the calendar with Christmas New Orleans Style, decking historic courtyards in pine boughs, hosting holiday home tours, and filling Jackson Square with candlelit carolers. It is quiet, evocative, and distinctly local—a gentle pause before January restarts the cycle.