It was a very dim day, with heavy clouds and strong winds. Gusts at the airport peaked at 52mph early this afternoon. Out at the buoy the peak was nearly 70mph, and seas got up to at least 28ft.
Although it did not stand out because it’s not in a time of extreme tides, the atmospheric affect on tides this afternoon got as great as about +1.8ft, the highest I’ve seen in some time.
I went for a drive this afternoon to see how big the waves were, and see what birds might be about. I watched from the Sawmill Cove dock for 15-20 minutes and briefly saw a Common Murre, Common Goldeneye and a Pelagic Cormorant on the water.
At Sandy Beach there were waves coming in to shore, but I think they were primarily locally generated wind waves, as they seemed to be hitting from a different angle than the ocean swells break.
A small flock of gulls was loafing on the ramp in front of UAS, and there was a good number of (mostly male) Common Mergansers out in the channel. The flock of scaups seemed to be larger and included more Greater Scaups than I had seen on recent visits over the past few days.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
