NEW ORLEANS — Happy Mardi Gras! Parades are rolling this Fat Tuesday. Many parades are on a modified parade route to avoid anticipated severe weather.
Stay here for all the live updates from Mardi Gras 2025.
- Krewe of Zulu (6:30 a.m. Uptown)
- Lions Club (9:15 a.m. Covington)
- Carnival in Covington (Follows Lions Club)
- Krewe of Rex (9:30 a.m. Uptown)
Mayor Latoya Cantrell enjoys her last Mardi Gras in office as mayor. “We are a resilient community.”
Rex will proceed down St. Charles Avenue to Calliope Street, where the parade will conclude. At this point, motorcycles will escort Rex out of the route by traveling against traffic to return them to their den.
Parade End Location: St. Charles Avenue & Calliope Street
Thousands of revelers adorned in beads and outlandish costumes will fill the streets of New Orleans as the city celebrates Mardi Gras despite anticipated severe storms.
The city’s two biggest parades — hosted by social clubs Krewe of Zulu and Krewe of Rex — are set to go on with earlier start times, shorter routes and no marching bands, New Orleans Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick told reporters Monday. The parades will be required to wrap up by 11:30 a.m. local time to avoid diminishing weather.
“Bottom line, they gonna still get the Zulu parade and all the excitement, it’s just a little earlier,” said Darren Mire, a Krewe of Zulu spokesperson. “We have to err on the side of caution, we have to protect the citizens of New Orleans and the visitors, and this was the best decision possible to get things done.”
Thunderstorms and winds up to 60 mph (100 kph) are expected throughout Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. In neighboring Jefferson Parish, officials canceled parades.
Kirkpatrick warned parade-goers to not bring umbrellas, tents or “anything that could fly in the wind and cause mayhem.” Worsening weather Tuesday morning could still be a condition for calling off the city’s parades at the last minute, she added.
“I will cancel the parades at that point, no matter what time that is,” Kirkpatrick said. “I hold that trump card in which I will not hesitate to cancel — I won’t do it lightly, but I will do it.”
Two other parades which had been scheduled to roll through the city later on Tuesday with nearly 200 truck floats have been postponed to Sunday, Kirkpatrick said.
Other cities along the Gulf Coast, such as Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, hold their own Mardi Gras Day parades.
The day kicked off with the North Side Skull and Bone Gang, a drum-playing group which for more than 200 years has gathered before sunrise to awake neighbors in the city’s historic Treme neighborhood.
Just outside New Orleans in neighboring Jefferson Parish, officials canceled planned Mardi Gras Day parades due to anticipated high winds and thunderstorms.
“This is disappointing, but our top priority is ensuring the well-being of everyone in our community, and we must always prioritize safety above all else,” Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng said in a statement.
Mardi Gras floats “could become unstable” and heavy winds could “blow down trees and power lines,” the National Weather Service warned, adding gusts of up to 60 mph (97 kph) were expected Tuesday afternoon.
Enjoying a parade during Mardi Gras can be a marathon. The City of New Orleans has placed public outdoor toilets along the parade route and on convenient street corners.
Here is a list and interactive map of where to go when you’ve “got to go.”
We have two big weather issues for Mardi Gras Day: (1) high winds and (2) a line of strong/severe thunderstorms. Winds will really pick up by midday on Mardi Gras and continue through the evening ahead of a strong frontal system. Expect sustained south/southeast winds of 20-35 mph with frequent gusts of 40-50 mph.
Watch a continuous live shot of Canal Street in Downtown New Orleans
Zulu parade rolls through New Orleans.
Download the NEW 2025 WWL-TV Mardi Gras parade tracker app
WWL-TV presents the 2025 Mardi Gras Parade Tracker. We are New Orleans’ premier Mardi Gras parade tracking service. We cover more parades in more areas of the city than any other app available on the market.
Here’s where to download the WWL-TV parade tracker for your phone:
How do we do it? The short answer is brute force. We deploy an army of dedicated, warm-blooded (and sober) human beings with GPS devices to walk the entire parade route of every parade we track. WWL physically tracks all of the biggest parades during Mardi Gras starting with Joan of Arc and ending with Rex on Mardi Gras day. Whether you are Uptown or in the French Quarter, in Metairie or on the West Bank, Chalmette, Houma, Thibodaux, or Covington, you can count on us to provide the exact location of the parade you want to see.
Our App includes parade schedules, routes, and real-time GPS location.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
