These Daily Briefings on Incidents, Advisories, Watches and Warnings, current weather and Emergency Management tips are published Monday through Friday, as well as during times of increased awareness or actual events.

Active Incidents

The U.S. and Canada have extended an order closing their shared border to nonessential traffic. The move delays the border’s reopening by another 30 days, until at least November 21, 2020. This includes both vehicular traffic as well as recreational boating between the countries.

The “Proclamation of Emergency” signed by the Whatcom County Executive concerning COVID-19 remains in effect. Information about Whatcom County’s response to COVID-19 is available at the Joint Information Center’s COVID-19 website. 

Whatcom County is in Phase 2 of the Washington Safe Start Plan. Highlights of this phase include: social distancing, wearing a mask, and limiting the size of groups are the guidelines of Phase 2. More info about Phase 2 in Whatcom County can be found here, and updates can be found here.

Washington state has implemented a cloth mask mandate requiring the wearing of a mask in public indoors and wherever a social distance of six feet cannot be maintained outdoors. More info can be found here and here.

Advisories, Watches and Warnings: 

A Small Craft Advisory went into effect this morning at 0700 and will remain in effect until 9:00pm this evening.  Northeast winds in the range of 20-30 knots should be expected.
 

At 9:00pm this evening, a Gale Warning will go into effect until 1:00pm tomorrow.  Winds will increase to 30-40 knots.  Environment Canada as already issued a Gale Warning  for Strait south of Nanaimo.

A  wind advisory is in effect for the inland portions of Whatcom County from tonight at 9:00pm to tomorrow at 1:00pm.  Northeast winds25-35 mph with gusts to 50 mph are expected. These winds can cause downed power lines, falling tree limbs, and sporadic power outages.  

A Freeze watch is in effect from late Saturday night through Sunday morning.

And finally, a Winter Weather Advisory went into effect this morning at 8:00am and will continue until early tomorrow morning at 1:00am above 3000 feet. Total snow accumulation is expected to be near 9”.  Rain will fall first in some places and then tao snow as temperatures drop later.  Driving conditions could be impacted.

Whatcom County Weather

The weather today will continue to degrade as we’ll see rain increasing, winds developing, snow in the elevations above 3000 feet, probably dropping lower as temperature drop at the end of the day, and zero chance or sun sightings.  Temperatures around the county will reach into the mid 40s for highs, but that’s about it.  Lows will drop into the upper 20s; wind chills will be much colder. Saturday will continue to see wind gusts above 20 mph in places with temperatures about the same before dropping well below freezing on Saturday night.   Sunday is looking to be sunny but highs will only reach the low 50s along the coastal areas.

Coastal Weather for Whatcom County

For the Coastal and Inland waters of Whatcom County, winds will be switching to the north and increasing from 15-25 knots to 20-30 knots and then 30-40 knots late.  Wind waves will increase from two to four feet to five to seven feet during the gale force winds.

Tides at Cherry Point for the next two days:

Here are a few emergency management reminders:

COVID-19: Everyone in Washington State, including Whatcom County, is directed to wear a face covering while at any indoor public space and any outdoor public space where you may be within 6 feet of someone who does not live with you. You can find more info about face coverings and other protective actions here and here.

This briefing line is not updated on weekends unless an incident occurs.