
How Will Freeze Affect Louisiana Crawfish Crop – What to Expect
There are many cities in Louisiana where legalized casino gambling exists. They've got casinos-a-plenty in Shreveport/Bossier City, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and at several other resorts scattered about the state. But if you ask me, the biggest gamblers in Louisiana don't play the slots or the table games, they are Louisiana's farmers and here lately "the house" has not been playing fair.
Take Louisiana's crawfish farmers, not only do they have to battle lower-priced and inferior imported products but they have Mother Nature throwing just about every trick in the book at them. In 2023 the state's crawfish industry was decimated by a drought that really made a mess of the 2024 crawfish season.
Here in 2025, things were looking quite good as we rounded out the last few months of 2024. The rainfall rates had been good, the temperatures had been seasonable and then, Louisiana was struck with a snowstorm and freeze of epic proportions.
The state's climatologist told reporters that Tuesday's snowfall in Louisiana was the most the southern part of the state had seen in more than 100 years. The temperature readings in the single digits were also some of the lowest readings that have been observed along I-10 in about that same period of time.
Crawfish are cold-blooded creatures. The temperature of their environment regulates their body temperature. When the weather gets cold they get dormant. In other words, they go hide in the mud. Which also means they are not feeding and are not growing larger. Nor are they finding themselves wandering into traps.
This is why LSU AgCenter specialist Mark Shirley is suggesting that the crawfish supply in the near term, the next week or so, might be a little short. However, the season as a whole should rebound nicely once the temperatures start to come back to seasonal norms.
The prognosis for a strong season is still the prevailing school of thought. Let's hope so, our crawfish farmers could use the break and those of us who love to eat crawfish could probably use the break too.
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Gallery Credit: Stephanie Crist
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