Texas coast

Guides

Short explainers for the parts of the board that decide whether you go, for every Texas county board, Cameron County to Jefferson County. Each one links to the agency that owns the facts, and none of them go out of date on a schedule. The live readings are on the board.

• Tsunami: what to do on the Gulf
  What is actually known about the Gulf’s tsunami hazard, the sea’s own warning signs, what each alert level means, your county’s alerts, and why storm surge is the water that usually does harm here.
• Small craft advisories and the bay and Gulf zones
  Which bay or Gulf zone your town reads and which of four weather offices writes it, how a bay forecast differs from a Gulf one, and what an advisory, gale or special marine warning means in knots.
• Reading a tide table on the Gulf
  What the zero is measured from, why the Gulf’s tide is small and often once a day, which stations are live gauges, why the Laguna Madre has almost none, and why the wind can move the water more than the tide.
• Road closures on this coast
  What the Highways tile shows from TxDOT’s DriveTexas, the roads each board watches, which of TxDOT’s words shut the road and which do not, why a frontage road or a ramp is not the highway, and high water.
• Fire: what is burning, and burn bans
  What the Fire tile shows and why it gives no danger level, how a county burn ban is set and how long it lasts, what a ban does and doesn’t stop, why the Forest Service’s list is not every fire, and the state’s rules before you burn.
• Beach water: bacteria counts and swim advisories
  What the beach tile shows from the General Land Office’s Texas Beach Watch, what Low, Medium and High mean, who recommends an advisory and who posts the signs, why a weekly sample is not today’s water after rain, and the counties nobody samples.
• Fishing: what is open, and the limits
  What the Fishing tile shows from Texas Parks and Wildlife’s saltwater limits, why one set of rules covers the whole coast, the flounder closure, red snapper and amberjack in federal waters, and why a fish says CHECK.
• Shellfish: harvest areas, red tide and oyster season
  What the shellfish tile shows from the Department of State Health Services’ dated table of harvest areas, which areas are your bay’s, what Approved, Conditionally Approved, Restricted and Prohibited mean, why red tide closes the bays and cooking does not help, and why oyster season is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s separate question.