Imagine living in Galveston your whole life. You wake up and see the same things you see every day: dozens of restaurants, attractions, and the brown but still beautiful water.
Now imagine waking up and seeing all of that brown water gone and replaced with blue Caribbean water? It would send chills down your spine. How could something so seemingly impossible unfold right in front of your eyes?
As you can imagine, Galveston’s new-found water was the number one trending on Twitter for days and lured thousands of tourists onto the island who had to see it for themselves.
But as you know now. The water is back to being brown and it has left many with their heady shaking with questions such as: how did this happen or why didn’t the water stay longer or permanently?
Clearing up the Facts
Today, we will clear up confusions as to why Galveston’s water was blue for such a short period of time.
As you may or may not know, the Mississippi River feeds right into the bay of Galveston. This is why the water is brown and not squeaky blue clean. You can read up on the details as to why this happens here. Subtropical Storm Alberto caused the Mississippi River current to flow east and out of Galveston Bay. This also took along the dirty sediment water that the Mississippi River brings to Galveston’s beaches.
With the flow of the Mississippi River cut off from Galveston Bay, water from other places began to flow in the direction of Galveston causing it to turn blue. But once the storm passed, the Mississippi River was allowed to function normally again, causing the brown water to come back to Galveston.
That is why the clear blue water only lasted a few days and not for eternity.
I hope this cleared up confusion as to why Galveston’s water was blue for only such a short period of time and not longer.
Will the Galveston Ocean Turn Blue Again?
With the storm gone, there was nothing stopping the Mississippi from pouring back into Galveston Bay. Now the question that many ask is will this happen again? As long as a storm or some other barrier throws off the flow f the Mississippi River, then this event is very likely to happen again!
The photo I attached is from my beach house rental on the west end of Galveston. Doesn’t the water looking AMAZING!
