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The original item was published from 12/4/2020 9:14:45 AM to 12/11/2020 12:00:03 AM.

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Sheriff - Emergency Management Daily Briefing

Posted on: December 4, 2020

[ARCHIVED] Friday, December 4, 2020 Emergency Management Daily Briefing for Whatcom County

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 until at least December 21, 2020. This includes both vehicular and 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.

Advisories, Watches and Warnings

A “Small Craft Advisory” is in effect from 6:00 am Saturday morning until 6:00 am Sunday morning for southeast winds 15 to 30 knots.

Weather Around Whatcom County

Whatcom County Inland Weather

We are going to be gifted with a couple more days of really nice weather.  We are expecting sunny skies today and tomorrow with temperatures reaching 50 degrees or slightly above 50.  Tonight will be mostly clear with lows in the mid-30s.  Places like Maple Falls and Deming could see temperatures drop near freezing so frost could form on bridges and overpasses.  Tomorrow night more clouds will roll in and we could see a chance of some light showers lasting into Sunday.  Next week we will see more rain but temperatures appear to be holding around 50 degrees for highs and the mid-30s for lows.  Wind should not be an issue as predictions are for 10mph or so with an easterly direction today, tomorrow and Sunday.
 

Rivers and Streams

The Nooksack will continue to run at its current level or even a little lower.  We will see a rise in the river level beginning late Tuesday as runoff from the next weather system spills into the river.  But the increase will not be enough to cause any concerns.
  

Whatcom County Coastal Weather

For the Strait and Inland Coastal Waters off Whatcom County things are looking good as well.  Wind today will be from the east around 10 knots switching to the northeast tonight.  Wind tomorrow are expected to switch to the southeast and increase to 20-30 knots; it remain that way throughout the nighttime; wind waves will be three to five feet.  Expect the wind to start dropping off after 6:00am Sunday morning eventually getting down to 10-20 knots. 






Date

Time

High

Low

December 04, 2020
09129.92
December 04, 2020
1456
7.21
December 04, 2020
17287.50
December 05, 20200141
-0.91
December 05, 2020
09559.88
December 05, 20201603
6.89
December 05, 2020
18147.07


Emergency Management Tips and Reminders

COVID-19

Everyone in Washington State 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.

King Tides

A King Tide is a non-scientific term people often use to describe exceptionally high tides. Tides are long-period waves that roll around the planet as the ocean is "pulled" back and forth by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun as these bodies interact with the Earth in their monthly and yearly orbits. Higher than normal tides typically occur during a new or full moon and when the Moon is at its perigee, or during specific seasons around the country.

In Whatcom County we pay particular attention to King Tides that occur in the late fall / early winter as many times these coincide with, and can be aggravated by, our wind storms.  This has resulted in significant impacts in our coastal communities, such as occurred in Birch Bay and Blaine in December of 2018 when over 5 million dollars in damage was caused by a King Tide and wind storm.  We define a King Tide as a tide of at least 10.1 at Cherry Point (Whatcom Counties official tide station).  Over the next couple months, we will have King Tides on the following days:


Date
Height of Tide
Time of King Tide 

December 14, 2020

10.1 Feet

0601

December 15, 2020

10.6 Feet

0650

December 16, 2020

10.8 Feet

0736

December 17, 2020

10.7 Feet

0821

December 18, 2020

10.6 Feet

0905

December 19, 2020

10.3 Feet

0948

December 30, 2020

10.1 Feet

0704

December 31, 2020

10.2 Feet

0737

January 01, 2021

10.3 Feet

0813

January 02, 2021

10.3 Feet

0846

January 03, 2021

10.2 Feet

0919

January 04 & 05, 2021

10.1 Feet

0951 / 1021

January 12, 2021

10.4 Feet

0605

January 13 & 14, 2021

10.6 Feet

0645 / 0722

January 15, 2020

10.5 Feet

0758

January 16, 2021

10.2 Feet

0831

January 29-February 01, 2021

10.1 Feet

0706 / 0733 / 0800 / 0827


For those who are tide watchers, these are pretty impressive tides but as happened in the 2018 storm, the tides were pushed nearly two feet higher from the storm pressure (called storm surge) and then the west wind added another 3-4 feet of waves.


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

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