This Is Home Fest is returning for its fifth year, featuring a celebration of food, music and community. This year’s festival will take place April 26 at the Civic Center in Lake Charles, according to a news release.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and state officials held a news briefing on Wednesday to update residents on the unprecedented weather event and its ongoing challenges. The governor commended the Department of Transportation and Development workers,

The cold temperatures are coming from a not uncommon expansion in the Polar Vortex, which are counter-clockwise rotating air currents that typically hang over the Arctic.

Interstate 10 reopened to westbound traffic from I-49 in Lafayette to the Texas border, the Department of Transportation and Development announced mid-afternoon Wednesday. The update comes after a historic winter storm brought several inches of snow to the gulf coast and shut down most of I-10 between Texas and Mississippi.

Landry said snow and ice will create treacherous travel conditions in regions where there are accumulations and plunging temperatures could create water pressure and delivery problems throughout the state.

Interstate 10 from the Louisiana-Texas state line to as far east as Sorrento or Gramercy could be fully open to traffic in both directions at some point Thursday afternoon, Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Joe Donahue said.

After a historic winter storm hit the Interstate 10 corridor on Tuesday, parts of the vital east-west artery remain closed due to icy road conditions in

The arctic weather set new records for snowfall amounts and low temperatures this week. State Climatologist Jay Grymes said it’s the most snowfall and lowest temperatures Louisiana has experienced in the last century.

Areas of Southwest Louisiana broke all-time record lows overnight Tuesday that dated back to the late 1800s. “It was quite the historic event for us,” said National Weather Service Lake Charles Storm Warning Meteorologist Doug Cramer.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette announced the campus will remain closed through the week because of snow, ice and extreme cold. The university will continue remote instructions but in-person classes won't resume until Monday, a spokesperson said in a release.

Unprecedented snowfall hits the U.S. South. Discover how this winter storm is setting new records and causing rare blizzard conditions.