Two Stories One Common Theme
It is unusual for me to run two stories in one day, but Friday 10/25 is a day that I will look at again in the future and come to the same conclusion. North Central Texas weather has changed. It is having an effect on how we fly fish, and that is an undeniable fact. You can choose whatever REASON you want for the change, but it has changed.
I attended the Orvis sponsored film tour stop in Southlake last Thursday night, and for those of you reading who are unfamiliar with Southlake, it sits in an area that can be added to the list of overrun communities with infrastructure that is ripping at the seams. I was in a pretty sour mood by the time I arrived at Orvis Southlake. That’s because it took an extra hour to get there in stop-and-go traffic. So to put it in perspective, a 18-mile trip that normally takes too long? It took one-and-a-half hours to get there. Imagine the thousands of idling cars, trucks and 18-wheelers blowing pollution while going nowhere. An experience like that goes a long way toward tainting the entire evening, so I will keep my opinion of this year’s movie tour to myself this year!
That gridlock is just one factor in what has turned not just DFW, but the entire region into a different place. The “heat island” is real, and it always was. We know that. But now its hotter, and the edges reach the Red River to the north and down to near Lake Whitney in the south. Like molten lava, nobody tries to stop the outflow.
This region, with DFW being the bullseye, has become a miserable place. And in my first Friday article, I pointed out the FACT there are virtually only two seasons in North Central Texas now. Then a few minutes later? I receive a news email from Oklahoma Wildlife Department. That email notified fishermen that the normal seasonal stocking for Oklahoma has been delayed by a month – to December 1. The reason? Temperatures are too high and water is too low.
It is impossible to imagine North Texas not having a winter, we’ve had a few mild ones during normal times. But, but we are heading into a new age where the winter is a protracted season. Sure, it will probably freeze solid and snow deep, but that will be reserved for a week in January or February, and that’s it. If we string enough dry weeks together into months? We have ourselves another real drought event. Remember the last one? Or, maybe you just got here? You’re welcome to stay, heck even be my neighbor, but here’s how it looked –
The Last Real Texas Drought
If you do stay, and you are my neighbor, and you do grow grass in your yard? Don’t be surprised if you see me peeing on your grass on your fancy doorbell camera.
Category: Blue River, Body-Mind-Soul, Guadalupe River, North Texas, Oklahoma Report, Science and Environmental, Texas Water Conservation
