The freezing grip from the polar vortex is about to loosen in Louisiana. Forecasters say we have one more night of below freezing temperatures statewide before a warm front moves in. State climatologist Barry Keim says it will soon feel like paradise after the freezing past month…:
Cut 3 (06) “near 70”
He says it will still be cold tomorrow but we’ll wake up to temperatures around 20 statewide — about 10 degrees warmer that yesterday.

Louisiana continues to suffer through its worst flu season on record, with nearly 10 in 100 doctors visits in the last month for influenza related symptoms. Frank Welch, medical director for the Louisiana Department of Health Immunization Program, says he hasn’t seen this in his 20 year tenure:
Cut 25 (06) “in Louisiana”
Welch says complications from the flu kills roughly 700 Louisianans a year.

Water pressure has become a concern across Louisiana in the wake of the recent arctic blast, which has prompted some parishes to issue boil water advisories. So why does this happen? Louisiana Department of Health Chief Engineer Amanda Laughlin (Loff-Lin) says when a hard freeze event takes place, pipes burst and there are an extremely high number of line breaks:
CUT 6 (12) “contamination event”
She says there are about 48 boil advisories posted in the state right now, and that number is expected to go up.

Governor John Bel Edwards has moved the unveiling of his budget proposal to Monday due to winter weather in Louisiana. He had intended to show the administration’s proposed spending plan tomorrow, which includes $1 billion dollars in state budget cuts. The meeting will now be held Monday because of concern about how lawmakers would get to Baton Rouge with the interstates closed.