National Weather Service New Orleans/Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Weather monitoring station in Slidell, United States

The National Weather Service office in Slidell is a weather monitoring station serving the New Orleans and Baton Rouge regions. It performs daily observation and forecasting operations, collecting data on temperature, humidity, wind conditions, and atmospheric pressure.

The office traces back to a U.S. Army Signal Service office opened in Downtown New Orleans on October 4, 1870. A hurricane forecast center ran there from 1935 until 1966, when its duties passed to the National Hurricane Center. In 1979 the office moved to Slidell and merged with the radar observatory operating there since 1972. The Baton Rouge office closed in 1993, its functions transferred to Slidell.

The office runs six NOAA Weather Radio stations, including KHB43 for the New Orleans area and WXL41 in Buras, which reaches about 40 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. WXL41 began broadcasting on August 17, 2005, and was knocked off the air by Hurricane Katrina less than two weeks later; service returned in early 2006 on a backup generator.

The office sits in Slidell, north of New Orleans across Lake Pontchartrain. Its NOAA Weather Radio stations carry continuous broadcasts: KHB43 from New Orleans, WXL41 from Buras, KHB46 from Baton Rouge, KIH21 from Gulfport, KIH23 from Morgan City and WNG521 from Bogalusa. WXL41 reaches about 40 miles into the Gulf of Mexico.

The office operates specialized radar systems that track hurricanes and tornadoes across southeastern Louisiana. This technology allows warnings to be issued quickly when dangerous storms approach the region.