Mardi Gras is now only a week away. That means it is time to start to looking at weather forecasts—a lot. Here at NoDef, we have been aggregating the predictions from weather.com, the National Weather Service (NWS), and accuweather.com. The outlook is not perfect, but it looks like we may escape the rain. Check out the extended look after the jump.

The skies are blue today, but come Halloween weekend, the weather may be giving revelers the blues. Forecasters are predicting a wet weekend with Halloween set to be storm central. The chances of thunderstorms on Saturday (10.31) night are close to 100 percent according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

Hurricane Season is not quite over yet. Although summer and the K10 onslaught have passed, storm threats have not. Out in the Atlantic, on a path towards the Leeward Islands, Tropical Storm Grace continues to plow west.

Jazz Fest has begun and so has the annual courting of the weather gods. Glancing at the skies, festers may not be sure whether to bring a parasol or an actual umbrella. The National Weather Service  (NWS) is predicting that the elements will be okay(ish).

By Patrick J. Pearson

Fall returns this week. A strong cold front will push through the area tonight bringing some strong to possibly severe thunderstorms. Chnace of rain is 6o percent today and 90 percent tonight. The rest of the week is looking very nice with cool overnight lows in the  mid 60's and daytime highs only in the mid 70's.

Fall continues to mark her ground. The forecast will be rather quiet this as the middle level ridge builds across much of the Gulf. Tonight, the cold front backs over us as a warm front bringing a slight chance of showers. High emps will stay in the low to mid 80's through Friday with overnight lows in round 70F.