Today
Has it rained enough in New Orleans?
Not a drop has fallen on New Orleans in three weeks.
New Orleans has had 95.7mm of rain in the last 30 days. A normal October here brings 90.3mm, so the ground is roughly where it should be for the time of year.
Rain reaching the roots · 14 days
17 OctToday
Thirty years
Rain in New Orleans through a normal year
Across a normal year New Orleans gets about 1429.6mm of rain, most of it in August (171.8mm) and least in November (83mm).
A normal October in New Orleans has rain on 11 days. Only 7 of them bring enough to reach a root.
That makes New Orleans one of the drier places this site covers in the United States in October — 17th of 30, against Seattle at the wet end (131.5mm) and Las Vegas at the dry end (8.4mm).
JFMAMJJAugSONovD
Average rainfall by month, 1995–2024
What it means
What that means for what you grow
- Pots and hanging basketsWorst hit, and first to suffer. Very little soil, fully exposed, and nothing to fall back on — in this weather they can empty in a day.
- Salad and leafy vegShallow-rooted and quick to bolt once they run dry. First priority of anything in the ground.
- Beds and bordersA long soak that reaches the roots is worth more than a daily sprinkle, which only wets the surface and is gone by lunchtime.
- Established shrubs and treesFine as they are. They draw from far deeper than a dry spell reaches.