Seafood shopping is quite easy in the general sense. Rule of thumb: if it smells fishy, don't buy. Fresh seafood should smell mild and more like the ocean and sea water rather than fish.
Mardi Gras 2016 falls on Tuesday, February 9. Visitors, please note: Parades will begin in January. Check our Parade Schedule section for specifics. The most popular time to visit New Orleans is the extended weekend before Mardi Gras (February 5- 9). Come then and you'll be sure to catch the most popular parades, like Endymion, Bacchus, Zulu, Rex and all of the festive celebrations throughout the whole city. Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is the last day of the Carnival season as it always falls the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Most visitors will plan to arrive no later than Saturday, February 6, 2016 in order to enjoy an extended weekend of festivities.
Mardi Gras day in the Marigny and French Quarter of New Orleans on Tuesday, February 9, 2016. (File photo by Chris Granger, Nola.com | The Times-Picayune) (CHRIS GRANGER) Mardi Gras day in New Orleans should be warm and partly cloudy, according to the National Weather Service. There's no rain in today's forecast. The morning should start out with patchy fog before 9 a.m. Then, the National Weather Service said it will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 81 and a south wind 10 to 15 mph. We could set a record today for the warmest Mardi Gras. The current record, according to the National Weather Service, is 83 degrees, which was set in 1917 and again in 1932. Tonight, it should be mostly cloudy, with a low around 68 and a south wind of 10 mph.