A snowy backyard on Nashville Ave. in February of 1958. The 1” snowfall was the heaviest in New Orleans since 1899. But even the 3” of 1899 paled in comparison to a snowstorm four years earlier, when 8” of snow fell on New Orleans on Feb 15, 1895. It’s a record that remains unmatched 130 years later.
Only two Mardi Gras parades have been snowed out: once in 1899, and again in 1958. In 1899, the coldest Mardi Gras on record, 3 inches of snow fell on Sunday, Feb 12, the day before the traditional Lundi Gras Proteus parade. With temperatures staying below freezing and no hopes of snow melting before the parade time, the owners of the mules that pulled Proteus’ floats refused to allow them to parade for fear of injury on icy roads. While Rex and Comus still rolled on Tuesday despite the still-snowy roads and wind chill below zero, Proteus postponed their parade to the Friday after Mardi Gras.
Exactly 59 years later to the day, it happened again. When the Knights of Babylon was founded in 1939, their parade night was the Wednesday before Mardi Gras. (They moved to Thursday night in 1993 when Momus stopped parading.) In 1958, the forecast for Wednesday, Feb 12, predicted lows from 28-32 degrees with snow expected. And indeed, the snow started in the early morning and ended in the evening.
Babylon, concerned about slick streets for floats and riders and dangerous travel to and from the route by spectators, postponed their parade. Even with the festivities cancelled, police reported 146 traffic accidents in the area, and a Canal Street streetcar window was shattered by a snowball.
The snow also cancelled that day’s horse racing at the Fair Grounds; jockeys were seen having snowball fights and building snowmen on the infield. A snowball fight broke out at the Court of Two Sisters between staff and customers. One French Quarter bar used snow instead of ice in their drinks, and a snowman at Pat O’Brien’s featured cherries for eyes, olives for buttons, and magnolia leaves as ears.
Most schools stayed open, altering lesson plans to talk and write about the snow, and examine snowflakes under microscopes. College classes were also held, but most of their students spent the day in Audubon Park having large-scale snowball fights.
By the next day, the snow was gone, melted by sun and higher temperatures. And on Saturday afternoon, Babylon rolled on the parade route with their 17 floats decorated to the theme Scenes from the Opera.
