Jump to content
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT LOGGING IN ×
  • WELCOME GUEST

    It looks as if you are viewing PalmTalk as an unregistered Guest.

    Please consider registering so as to take better advantage of our vast knowledge base and friendly community.  By registering you will gain access to many features - among them are our powerful Search feature, the ability to Private Message other Users, and be able to post and/or answer questions from all over the world. It is completely free, no “catches,” and you will have complete control over how you wish to use this site.

    PalmTalk is sponsored by the International Palm Society. - an organization dedicated to learning everything about and enjoying palm trees (and their companion plants) while conserving endangered palm species and habitat worldwide. Please take the time to know us all better and register.

    guest Renda04.jpg

Brownsville Climate


LF-TX

Recommended Posts

On 5/16/2018, 9:04:34, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Roberto,

I think you are spot on!  I have always noticed a DISTINCTLY MORE TROPICAL LOOK in the Cameron County in general, and the Brownsville area in particular, than that of the rest of the Valley!!!  The abundance of Royal Palms, Foxtail Palms, Areca Palms,  Royal Poincianas, Mangoes, Paapayas, Guavas, Orchid Trees, etc., and the number of Coconut Palms in the Brownsville area, compared to the rest of the area, says that you are REALLY ON TO SOMETHING!!!

John

 

Thanks John! It was a thought that came to my mind and I was intent on sharing it! :) 

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/18/2018, 12:58:15, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

You are right compared to Florida waters, but compared to Galveston, South Padre has the CLEAREST WATER on the Texas Coast, and the REALLY PRETTY BLUE WATER is usually only about a mile or two offshore from South Padre Island, as opposed to about 30 to 40 miles offshore from Galveston.  Port A, though does have some good snorkeling and scuba diving along the jetties there in the late summer and fall, when the visibility on good days can be 20ft. + and lots of tropical damselfish, butterflyfish and angelfish in the summer too!

John

I agree! On days with little surf, you don’t need to go far to see clear water! Just look at this video! I guess it depends greatly on when you happen to go to SPI to see clear water. 

https://youtu.be/1m2xcQBo9Nc

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2018‎ ‎10‎:‎43‎:‎00‎, LF-TX said:

Thanks John! It was a thought that came to my mind and I was intent on sharing it! :) 

You are welcome, Roberto.

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎6‎/‎2‎/‎2018‎ ‎10‎:‎48‎:‎26‎, LF-TX said:

I agree! On days with little surf, you don’t need to go far to see clear water! Just look at this video! I guess it depends greatly on when you happen to go to SPI to see clear water. 

https://youtu.be/1m2xcQBo9Nc

Roberto,

Thanks for the link.  That is some clear water.  Wish I could have gone snorkeling there that day!  It would be nice if the water was clear like that all the time.  On the video of the rental condo on the beach there, you can see the crystal clear blue water just about half a mile offshore. 

John

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/2/2018, 8:48:26, LF-TX said:

I agree! On days with little surf, you don’t need to go far to see clear water! Just look at this video! I guess it depends greatly on when you happen to go to SPI to see clear water. 

https://youtu.be/1m2xcQBo9Nc

That is beautiful crystal clear seawater.

You'll never see that on the Pacific side. Just gorgeous.

5 year high 42.2C/108F (07/06/2018)--5 year low 4.6C/40.3F (1/19/2023)--Lowest recent/current winter: 4.6C/40.3F (1/19/2023)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/18/2018, 1:49:44, Estlander said:

 

Wow, that is quite a bit colder, compared to even northern FL Gulf coast water temps. at latitude 30N. 

 

 

On 5/16/2018, 11:20:58, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

But it IS warmer than our 56F water here at the Gulf beaches in Corpus Christi, and warmer than the 58F water at South Padre in January!

 

I'm not even sure if those SST chart numbers are completely accurate, anyways. Too many incongruities with the data. They have Wilmington, NC warmer than places farther south in Georgia and South Carolina, not to mention a listed January temperature of 39F(!) at Sabine Pass, TX.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@mthteh1916 @Mr. Coconut Palm

I've looked at SPI vs FL Panhandle for quite some time, and both seem to have the same clear blue water. Just a matter of the Texas sand being less white, which doesn't relay that "turquoise hue" as effectively.

And speaking of Galveston, even it has been getting in on clearer water recently. It's close offshore at this time, and even came right up to the shore during the Memorial Day period:

 

Edited by AnTonY
  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, AnTonY said:

@mthteh1916 @Mr. Coconut Palm

I've looked at SPI vs FL Panhandle for quite some time, and both seem to have the same clear blue water. Just a matter of the Texas sand being less white, which doesn't relay that "turquoise hue" as effectively.

And speaking of Galveston, even it has been getting in on clearer water recently. It's close offshore at this time, and even came right up to the shore during the Memorial Day period:

 

I agree. The water at SPI is actually exceptionally clean, but like you said, the sand isn’t a bleached white sand like you see in Florida, so from a distance Texas water will look more murky than Florida but the clarity is almost the same 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@TexasColdHardyPalms

It was a brief, but special event. The Gulf gyre shifted north a bit, causing currents to flow from the SW. This pushed away the MS river sediment, and brought in the clear water.

Some pics from Instagram:

 

 

Edited by AnTonY
  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/16/2018, 9:04:34, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Roberto,

I think you are spot on!  I have always noticed a DISTINCTLY MORE TROPICAL LOOK in the Cameron County in general, and the Brownsville area in particular, than that of the rest of the Valley!!!  The abundance of Royal Palms, Foxtail Palms, Areca Palms,  Royal Poincianas, Mangoes, Paapayas, Guavas, Orchid Trees, etc., and the number of Coconut Palms in the Brownsville area, compared to the rest of the area, says that you are REALLY ON TO SOMETHING!!!

John

 

In addition to milder winter temperatures, I'm sure that Brownsville being closer to the coast allows for more rains, to induce some sort of lushness compared to areas like, say, McAllen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, AnTonY said:

@mthteh1916 @Mr. Coconut Palm

I've looked at SPI vs FL Panhandle for quite some time, and both seem to have the same clear blue water. Just a matter of the Texas sand being less white, which doesn't relay that "turquoise hue" as effectively.

And speaking of Galveston, even it has been getting in on clearer water recently. It's close offshore at this time, and even came right up to the shore during the Memorial Day period:

 

I used to live for a few years in Galveston, and I would say about 7 or 8 times per year, the water at the beach would get clear enough to go snorkeling.  But from what I understand, the water there recently has been exceptionally clear!  I think the reason it is so exceptionally clear this year is due to the fact that we are in a SEVERE DROUGHT in South Texas now, and due to the lack of rainfall, there has been a LOT LESS river outflow of sediments into the Gulf this year along the upper Texas Coast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, AnTonY said:

In addition to milder winter temperatures, I'm sure that Brownsville being closer to the coast allows for more rains, to induce some sort of lushness compared to areas like, say, McAllen.

Yes, Brownsville does get a little more rain, about 3" or 4" more per year than McAllen.  I think Brownsville averages about 26" of rain per year now, and McAllen, I think averages about 22" or 23" of rain per year now.  I say now, because 150 to 200 years ago, before all the clear cutting of the native subtropical palm forest along the river, I think the rainfall in the Lower Rio Grande Valley was significantly higher than what it is now, probably as much as 33" or 34" per year, or more in the Brownsville area and as much as 30" or 31", or more per year in the McAllen area.  However, now only about 2% of the original subtropical palm forest still exists there, and as such the climate has been drastically changed, especially the amount of rainfall over the last two centuries!

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Mr. Coconut Palm

Yep, the lesser sediment inflow allows easier response of water clarity to any chances in wind direction/currents.

As far as Brownsville's climate, what source did you look at to determine that it was indeed wetter in the past? It's not implausible though, because it's only a short distance from Tampico, a place with a solid tropical wet season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/10/2018, 7:41:49, AnTonY said:

I'm not even sure if those SST chart numbers are completely accurate, anyways. Too many incongruities with the data. They have Wilmington, NC warmer than places farther south in Georgia and South Carolina, not to mention a listed January temperature of 39F(!) at Sabine Pass, TX.

When it comes to Destin SST then they are pretty accurate. 

Here’s another of many sources you can find online about FL panhandle water temperatures:

http://www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Destin/seatemp

Destin sea water temperatures peak in the range 28 to 31°C (82 to 88°F) on around the 14th of July and are at their lowest on about the 11th of February, in the range 16 to 20°C (61 to 68°F).

Below is a graph of Historical Sea Surface Temperature for Destin. This has been derived from analysis of two decades of oceanographic satellite measurements of nearby open water. We have calculated the average water temperature variation around the year as well as the extremes that have been observed on each date.

 

A3F7C069-4401-4865-8F9E-ED9B68AE85EB.jpeg

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, AnTonY said:

@Mr. Coconut Palm

Yep, the lesser sediment inflow allows easier response of water clarity to any chances in wind direction/currents.

As far as Brownsville's climate, what source did you look at to determine that it was indeed wetter in the past? It's not implausible though, because it's only a short distance from Tampico, a place with a solid tropical wet season.

I haven't read that anywhere, but it is a hypothesis or theory of mine, because it is just simply logical that the rainfall was indeed higher then with so MUCH more vegetation in the subtropical palm forest that used to comprise something like 80,000 + acres along the river from the Rio Grande Delta all the way to about what is now the dam at Falcon Lake.  Also, their used to be periodic flooding that was significant enough to change to course of the river channel over time, which is how the resacas (oxbow lakes) formed in the lower part of the Valley around Brownsville.  And then there is a professor from the university there that was a guest speaker that gave a lecture a couple of years ago about the area at a Palm Society of South Texas meeting at the Sabal Palm Sanctuary near Brownsville.  After his lecture during a kind of question and answer period, I told him about my hypothesis/theory, and he indeed thought it was quite correct that the rainfall of the region was significantly higher by probably about 5 to 8 inches or more per year than it is now after all the years of clear cutting the native palm forest for agriculture!  By the way, I also think that once much of the clear cutting was done around the mid to end of the 19th Century, that it lead to the all time record low temperature for Brownsville of 12F in 1899!  This, I believe was due to the fact that once you clear cut a tropical or subtropical forest like this you reduce the moisture in the air humidity, which is especially evident in the winter time, thus significantly lower dew points in the area, and making the area much more susceptible to new all time record lows with bad Arctic cold fronts.  I believe this same effect has occurred in South Central Florida due to the extensive filling in of swamps and clear cutting of native forests for agriculture and development that has lead to some severe freezing weather outbreaks much worse than what would normally occur even in a "bad" winter in the region, even as the planet as a whole has significantly warmed over the last 40 to 50 years!  Also, Florida has been experiencing more and more SEVERE DROUGHTS over the last few decades!  The modern industrialized economy certainly has a very negative adverse affect on the world's climate!

John

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/10/2018, 7:00:31, AnTonY said:

@TexasColdHardyPalms

It was a brief, but special event. The Gulf gyre shifted north a bit, causing currents to flow from the SW. This pushed away the MS river sediment, and brought in the clear water.

Some pics from Instagram:

 

 

It is back to the usual murky brown water from what I have seen on you tube. I have heard though that if you go out on a catamaran a mile or so offshore it turns clear blue. Not sure how true that is though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Estlander

Of course there are several places for which the data is accurate. But I wouldn't doubt that there were errors or missing values for some of the other places, with respect to both geographic position and winter air temperatures.

Edited by AnTonY
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@mthteh1916

Yep, the clear water was only a brief event for the Memorial Day period. But since then, the murky/clear water boundary has waffled quite a bit. It can be as close to shore as at the end of the piers/jetties, or much farther out.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 6/16/2018, 10:16:52, AnTonY said:

@mthteh1916

Yep, the clear water was only a brief event for the Memorial Day period. But since then, the murky/clear water boundary has waffled quite a bit. It can be as close to shore as at the end of the piers/jetties, or much farther out.

I can’t wait for Galveston to have this blue water again, I wonder when the next time will be.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/26/2018, 10:31:19, LF-TX said:

I can’t wait for Galveston to have this blue water again, I wonder when the next time will be.

It happened again last weekend! And is still carrying over a bit as of now...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
On 4/4/2018, 12:02:58, mthteh1916 said:

And it seems that since 2014 it is getting worse and worse. Prior to that I was very optimistic and growing all kinds of palms in the eastern US, and since 2014 all I keep hearing are stories about this palm or that palm being wiped out. For example, 2014 wiped out pygmy dates and queen palms on the upper gulf coast. It is not just me, there are others on here that are pretty pessimistic about what can be grown.

 

I apologize for coming off so negative, it is just the climates we got stuck with get me down particularly after a cold winter. I have tried so many different zone 8 stuff in Cape May County NJ all killed off since 2014.

 

In future I will try to be more upbeat. If we had five normal or mild winters in a row I would feel much better.

Tell our government to stop bombarding our atmosphere with microwaves and spewing barium aluminum into our atmosphere every single day.

Its disgusting how harmful those are to our climate and health.

Look up Haarp in Alaska and you know about the crisscrossing streaks in the sky marring our skies aka chemtrails.

We need to stop these clowns from messing with our weather

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/6/2018, 5:34:46, mdsonofthesouth said:

@mthteh1916 you're not the only one...just hoping it warms up back to our normal winters. 

Until they(secret testing organizations) stop messing with our weather it will never go back to normal

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Recently Browsing

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...