By Joanna Brown
The Advocate
It's been a cold few days in south Louisiana, with winter temperatures coming to the region as crawfish farmers begin to harvest their fields.
On Sunday night temperatures fell to 23 degrees in the Lafayette area, causing schools and businesses to close on Monday based on the extreme cold warning. Cold weather is expected to remain through the week and fall back to sub-freezing by Friday night, meaning that at least in the Acadiana region, winter is here to stay — for a few days at least. The community of Carencro has cancelled their Mardi Gras parade on Saturday, Jan. 31 in response.
Winter Storm Fern came at a delicate time for Louisiana crawfish farmers, who are starting to harvest their crops for the 2026 season. According to LSU AgCenter crawfish extension agent Todd Fontenot, this cold snap will not significantly delay the crawfish season, which he described in December as an "optimistic" one.
"It will slow them down for several days, but I don't see any long term effects," said Fontenot. "If we turn cold again by the weekend, it will delay a little bit longer."
Fontenot explained that cold can trigger the crawfish's molting cycle. When a lot of crawfish are molting at the same time following a cold spell, they are extremely still and vulnerable to harm. They are not attracted to bait while molting, and Fontenot said that catches will be lower during this period.
"It's still early in the season," he said. "A lot of producers are just starting to see what's out there, so we don't have a complete view yet, but a lot of indicators did point to a good season, even if we're a little behind 'normal' right now."