12/20 Princess Louisa Inlet, Cherry Point, Navy jets, deer with orcas

Royal morning 0800 (Laurie MacBride)

Light and Shadow Play
Laurie MacBride in Eye on Environment writes: "Over the three days we spent in Princess Louisa Inlet last summer, we watched a fascinating play of light and shadow. This steep-sided, narrow inlet is tucked far into BC’s Coast Mountain Range, so morning light is slow to arrive. When the sun finally makes it over the eastern peaks, it lights the tops of the mountains along the western shore first…." (Read on)

Whatcom Planning Commission to consider Cherry Point perspective in January
Since October, the Whatcom County Planning Commission has focused on refining policies for development at Cherry Point. The commission, at the direction of the Whatcom County Council, has been working on changes to the portion of the county planning document that guides land use at Cherry Point, the county’s industrial heartland. After two work sessions and two long meetings at which hundreds of people gave input on the amendments, the commission opted at the end of its Dec. 8 meeting to continue its work, with another session Jan. 12. Samantha Wohlfeil reports. (Bellingham Herald)

Navy to resume EA-18, F/A-18 flight operations
Naval Air Forces directed EA-18 Growler and F/A-18 Super Hornet squadrons to resume normal operations Monday after an operational pause was put into effect following a Growler ground mishap on an airfield at Whidbey Island last Friday. The EA-18 incident that resulted in injuries to the pilot and electronic warfare officer caused safety concerns that necessitated an operational pause for all EA-18s and F/A-18s. Both members of the aircrew of an EA-18G assigned to Electronic Attack Squadron 132 at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island sustained injuries during an unspecified incident on the flight deck at 11 a.m. Friday. (Peninsula Daily News)

Deer in water encounters killer whales off B.C. coast
A B.C. skipper stumbled on a rare sight Sunday: a young buck swimming right past a pod of killer whales lurking nearby. Mark Malleson was leading a whale-watching tour near East Sooke Park when he spotted four transient orcas. He thought he saw a moving tree nearby — but it was actually a deer's antlers. (CBC)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  555 AM PST TUE DEC 20 2016  

GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON  
TODAY  W WIND 35 TO 45 KT...EASING TO 25 TO 35 KT IN THE  AFTERNOON. COMBINED SEAS 12 TO 14 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF  15 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 19 TO 20 FT WITH A DOMINANT PERIOD OF  12 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. SHOWERS IN THE MORNING...THEN SHOWERS  LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT  W WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING SW TO 10 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 FT OR LESS AFTER  MIDNIGHT. W SWELL 17 FT AT 14 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 15 FT AT  15 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF RAIN.

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