On Sun, 15 Dec 2013 09:35:00 -0600, Swingman wrote:

On 12/14/2013 5:06 PM, wrote:

IIRC back when SE Texas was naming their small towns Pearland, Orange
after their orchards, Galveston Bay froze.
I take it that Galveston bay isn't part of the gulf? Salt?

Brackish water, depending upon the location.

I used to duck hunt in both Galveston and Trinity bays and it was not
unusual to break ice, of an early morning, going to the blinds in the
upper reaches where the water was brackish (more fresh water, less
salt), thus more subject to freezing.

Never would have thought that even brackish water would freeze in
Galveston. My wife lived in Houston (burbs) when she was young. She
tells amazing stories of the snowfalls (scrape an entire yard to get
enough snow to build a snowman) but never mentioned ground water
actually, you know, freezing. ;-)