NEW ORLEANS — We’ve all heard some version of the biblical idiom, “there is nothing new under the sun.”
Well, yesterday I watched a man ice skate down Canal Street in New Orleans. So ... clearly we aren’t done with new stuff.
Blizzard conditions in the French Quarter, snow angels on Bourbon Street, icicles on the Superdome, snowmen adorned with Mardi Gras beads and adults seeing snow for the first time in their lives.
The winter storm that blew through southeastern Louisiana this week has brought more snow than the area has seen in more than 120 years, and the city of New Orleans is not set up for winter precipitation of this magnitude. The infrastructure is just not in place because they never have to deal with this.
There are no snow plows, de-icing equipment, salt trucks, etc. Businesses aren’t readily equipped with shovels and rock salt. People don’t know how to drive in the snow, walk on icy or snowy sidewalks, and there are many that don’t have clothes or footwear that are meant for the kind of weather that they experienced this week.
I was scheduled to fly out of Louis Armstrong International Airport on Tuesday. It’s Thursday afternoon, and although I have a flight scheduled for this afternoon, 20 other Delta flights scheduled for today have already been canceled. Fingers crossed.
Dealing with flight cancellations and interrupted travel due to inclement weather is, frankly, just a part of life as an NBA beat reporter. But it’s not something I expected in New Orleans, in January, and certainly not because of snow.
When the NBA released the 2024-25 schedule, the Utah Jazz’s trip to New Orleans in mid-January looked like it was going to be a highlight of the season. A respite amid the dog days of the NBA season.
The team would have two games in the Big Easy, with two days in between games, which meant some extra down time in a great city that is usually much warmer than Salt Lake City mid-winter. All of the Jazz reporters circled the dates and were excited about the trip. My boyfriend even decided to buy a flight and join me.
As the dates approached, we noticed that it was going to be colder than normal. Then we started to see near-freezing temperatures expected on Monday night and Tuesday morning. By the time we arrived in New Orleans last Thursday, the residents of New Orleans were planning for the possibility of snow on Tuesday.
That’s when I started to hear conversations about the city shutting down.
At first, I thought that things were being a little overblown. They won’t really shut down the airport for a couple of inches of snow, will they? Then, when it seemed that snow was not a possibility but an absolute, people were warning that the entire city and all the roads would be closed. Really? Before we even see how bad it’s going to get?
Yes.
On Friday I covered the Jazz game against the Pelicans. On Saturday, most people were preparing for the coming storm — wrapping pipes, putting plastic over windows to try to keep in heat in case of loss of electricity.
On Saturday night, I got engaged.
Yes, you read that correctly. My then-boyfriend proposed to me on Saturday night in New Orleans. It was beautiful. On Sunday, my fiancé and I made a trip to CVS and loaded up on granola bars, microwaveable meals and other snacks, just in case.
On Monday night, the Jazz played the Pelicans again. This time, there were hardly any fans in attendance. There were warnings issued earlier in the day that all residents should prepare to bunker down for a few days. Major roads, interstates and highways would be closed at midnight. I overheard New Orleans Pelicans vice president of basketball operations David Griffin describing his own preparations, making sure plumping was wrapped, plants were brought inside and everyone was prepared for a few days indoors.

The Jazz rushed out of the arena on Monday night. They wanted to make sure that they would be leaving before flights were grounded. By 11 p.m. CST they had boarded their chartered flight, ready for takeoff to Oklahoma City. I was walking back to my hotel from the Smoothie King Center, watching trucks prepare barricades for interstate onramps. All flights the next day were canceled.
The problem hasn’t necessarily been the snow. But without a way to clear the snow, the freezing temperatures in the following days have turned everything to ice, and with no way to clear the ice, the city hasn’t been able to operate properly. We have been lucky compared to others. We are at a hotel where the staff volunteered to stay in the building overnight and keep things running relatively smoothly.
While navigating the icy sidewalks — helping locals by showing them they should walk on the softer bits that aren’t iced over — we’ve been able to find a couple of restaurants nearby that have stayed open. We’ve been so thankful for the people that have tried to keep a few services running despite being short-staffed, ill-prepared and over-worked.
We’ve seen some pretty incredible and hilarious stuff. People taking snowy selfies for the first time. Dogs running and playing in the snow, also experiencing firsts. People young and old trying to make the best of the situation, playing hockey in the streets, having snowball fights.
But we’ve also seen things that aren’t as fun. We’ve seen homeless that aren’t wearing warm clothing, stray animals that are suffering and heard a number of stories about families trying to keep warm despite a lack of hot water or electricity. It’s hard not to think about the people of New Orleans, who suffered through Hurricane Katrina, having to once again deal with a historic weather-related event. I realize that this storm does not compare at all to the devastation of Katrina, but it feels like the people here deserve a life-time pass from dangerous weather.
Even so, the people of New Orleans have been wonderful. They’ve been kind and warm and giving and helpful and amid the uncertainty of when things could return to normal.
I’d say all things considered, it’s turned into one of the most eventful and strange NBA roadtrips I’ve ever experienced. I mean, who else can say that they got engaged in New Orleans and then stranded during the most substantial snowfall of the century?
