I ran across the image of a vortex in the middle of the lake and I wanted to know more. Of course, Atlas Obscura knew the score:
According to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who spoke with Business Insider, the vortex is caused simply by excess water. Flooding on the Red River, the source for Lake Texoma, has caused the lake to increase to record levels, to the point where it has flowed over the Denison Dam spillway – for the first time in history. Because the lake water is so high, the Army Corps needed to open the dam’s floodgates to let the water out.
