Rain expected for Mardi Gras in New Orleans

— Wet streets, puddles and soggy ground greeted revelers who braved rainy forecasts threatening to wash out Mardi Gras, New Orleans’ biggest free show.

Freddie Zeigler, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Slidell, La., said there’s an 80 percent chance of rain Tuesday, with showers likely hitting in the pre-dawn hours along Louisiana’s coast and moving into the metro area around sunrise.

Still, lulls are predicted throughout the day.

“It’s going to be dicey though for parades, but it all depends on how fast that warm front moves to the north,” Zeigler said.

Before dawn, riders in the Zulu parade — the first of the day’s float processions — boarded floats staged at the city’s huge convention enter. They loaded aboard the trinkets, beads, doubloons and other throws that hundreds of thousands would be clamoring for in a matter of hours.

Zulu was scheduled to parade at 8 a.m., followed by the parade of Rex, King of carnival, two hours later. Behind them would come hundreds of trucks decorated by families and social groups.

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