Summer came a month early to Texas. Imagine that.

That doesn’t mean fall will be here a month early though. No, what it means is we are being set up for the mother of all hurricane seasons. Water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are downright amazing. Hurricane seasons are pretty long for scientific reasons, but prime-time hurricane threat expands inside the season calendar when it’s this hot this early.

Growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast at the southern tip of Texas meant keeping ample supplies of duct tape to tape windows and for the serious stuff, plywood was at the ready from the local lumber yard. Storm prediction for landfall location ran twenty-four to forty-eight hours in advance. Black-and-white flickering radar images on a black-and-white TV were what we had, and we all walked uphill to school – and home! Seriously, there was an element of suspense attached to a hurricane. Where would it really hit, and how bad would it really be? Most of the time we left the tape on the windows for months on end. The variables, compared to today, were many and large.

The facts are:
- There are twenty-one names for hurricanes of 2011, and they are:
Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

- Today, off the coast of Texas, northeast of Freeport the water temperature is 87-degrees fahrenheit. If you are interested in the latest information from NOAA, you can find the Atlantic Hurricane information here.

With the latest Don, dissipating upon landfall at my old home shore, it makes me wonder what it’s going to take to relieve the state of what my newfound local friends call “the worst drought they’ve ever seen.” These guys are pushing seventy, and the weathermen have moved this summer into second place all-time, and a serious contender to the summer of 1980 – number one all-time for consecutive days over 100-degrees, and number of days over 100-degrees.

All I can say is be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. All this talk of “we need a hurricane” to relieve this drought can be taken all wrong by the powers that be. I have been through a couple of them, and this really is one force of nature that we don’t want to conjure. Mother nature just doesn’t bring all the good and leave out the bad.

• Lake Calumet tests positive for Asian carp DNA. Are we living a sci-fi B movie or what?!! #
• #flyfishing Seeing a lot of markdowns on Sage Z-Axis on the internet. Is that line of rods discontinued? #
• 82 degrees at 5-am. Yes, a lot of people are wanting tropical storm Don to pass through their neck of the woods. http://1.usa.gov/pRAph #

Texas, as always, offers up a mixed bag of meteorological mayhem. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued a news release on fish kills in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and at the southern tip of Texas, the coast is getting ready for tropical storm Don to make landfall. If anyone thinks that automatically means relief for the middle of Texas, they’re sadly mistaken as a high pressure dome (hole in the atmosphere) remains strongly in place over the middle. The temperature relief on the Lower Laguna Madre as well as some freshwater to lower salinity, should make for an outstanding couple of weeks there. As for the heat, blooms, and fish kills here – look for my solution in a post next week – night fishing for largemouth bass.

From TPWD News Release – Summertime Fish Kills Affecting DFW Area Lakes

Fort Worth— As daytime temperatures remain above 100 degrees, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) Inland Fisheries biologist are getting more calls from concerned anglers and pond owners in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex regarding fish kills.

“Unless the weather pattern changes in the near future, we expect to see more issues with fish kills as August rolls in,” said TPWD Inland Fisheries biologist Tom Hungerford.

A fish kill has been reported recently at Kimzey Park in Colleyville, which is likely attributable to a combination of low oxygen as well as a blue-green algae bloom. Blue-green algae produce toxins which can kill fish. Also, an ongoing fish kill is occurring at Lake Ray Hubbard involving blue and channel catfish and freshwater drum. “Monday, July 25, we estimated 2,071 dead fish based on three transect counts between the dam and IH-30,” said Melissa Dudley, a Kills and Spills biologist with TPWD. Low oxygen is suspected but the investigation is ongoing.

Water is a very interesting medium: As the temperature increases, the solubility of gases (specifically oxygen) decreases. With this in mind, fish are more likely to die of low oxygen stress when water temperatures are elevated because less dissolved oxygen is held in warm water and the fish’s metabolic requirements for oxygen are increased as temperature increases.

With record high low temperatures coming in recent weeks, surface water temperatures are reaching new heights. Small ponds are getting into the mid-90s while larger reservoirs are pushing 90 degrees. Also, the drought is lowering lake levels. Without sufficient rainfall, boating access may become impacted by low water.

Boaters and anglers are urged to use caution when on the water. Stay hydrated, wear a PFD at all times and carry a cell phone in case of an emergency.

Direct Information Links

Read the Release on Summer of 2011 Fish Kill on TPWD website.
National Hurricane Center Feed for TS Don.