Climate averages 1991–2020

New Orleans weather
in January.

A mild, wet month: the coolest and the 7th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 15.9°C Daytime mean, January

Average low 9.1°C Night-time mean, January

Rainfall 113 mm 10 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 10 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

January is a mild month in New Orleans: daytime highs average 15.9°C and nights cool to about 9.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.

Expect about 113 mm of rain on roughly 10 days, which makes January a wet month (the 7th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 10 h 27 min on an average January day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Metairie (8 km away). In January its highs average 16.0°C, about as warm as New Orleans, with 119 mm of rain.

Among the 498 cities listed in the United States, New Orleans ranks joint 125th of 498 for the warmest January highs and 449th of 498 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 498 cities is 9.5°C; New Orleans is 6.4°C warmer than that mean.

From January to February, average highs rise by 1.8°C to 17.8°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 113 mm to 108 mm.

The annual picture

January in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

New Orleans climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for New Orleans, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January, selected	15.9°C9.1°C	9.1°C	113	9.7	10.510 h
February	17.8°C10.7°C	10.7°C	108	8.9	11.111 h
March	20.6°C13.6°C	13.6°C	114	9.4	12.012 h
April	23.9°C17.1°C	17.1°C	99	8.4	12.913 h
May	27.7°C21.1°C	21.1°C	91	9.2	13.614 h
June	30.1°C24.3°C	24.3°C	131	15.0	14.014 h
July	30.8°C25.4°C	25.4°C	143	17.9	13.914 h
August	30.7°C25.4°C	25.4°C	159	17.3	13.213 h
September	28.9°C23.5°C	23.5°C	123	12.8	12.412 h
October	25.2°C18.9°C	18.9°C	88	8.0	11.511 h
November	20.4°C13.6°C	13.6°C	83	7.3	10.711 h
December	17.1°C10.5°C	10.5°C	96	9.2	10.310 h

Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.

Compare places

January in nearby cities

Distance from New Orleans

Read the numbers correctly

Climate, not a promise.

These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.

Sources, method and limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for New Orleans) is explained once on the New Orleans year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.