Weather in New Orleans in August

A hard month. August is a hard month in New Orleans, and worth planning around. You should expect rain on 24 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

August ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of New Orleans's year. November is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 35 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 24 of the month's 31 days, 5 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Pack for 30.7 °C days and 26.5 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 21 days top 30 °C, making the heat continuous rather than occasional; the day barely swings — 4.2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 35.4 °C and the coldest night fell to 18.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 153 mm — roughly 81% of the month's rain in one day.

August is moderately variable: 52 mm in the driest year against 436 mm in the wettest, around an average of 190 mm. Roughly two Augusts in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 78%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 30.7 °C in July, 30.7 here, 29.3 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: September brings 10 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in August

13.3 hours of daylight, losing 0.8 hours across the month. That is between New Orleans's extremes of 14.1 and 10.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 22.3 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

August in New Orleans versus nearby

If New Orleans is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Baton Rouge is the weaker option in August — 2.1 °C warmer, 3 days less rain. Mobile is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: August is a compromise. November is 35 points better and is what New Orleans is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in New Orleans

See all twelve months in New Orleans, or where else to go in August.