An integral domain D is weakly integrally closed if whenever x is in the quotient field of D, and J is a nonzero finitely generated ideal of D such that xJ ⊆ J 2, then x is in D. We define weakly integrally closed (WIC) numerical monoids similarly. If a monoid algebra is weakly integrally closed, then so is the monoid. The characteristic function of a numerical monoid M can be thought of as an infinite binary string s(M). A pattern of finitely many 0's and 1's is called forbidden if whenever s(M) contains it, then M is not weakly integrally closed. The pattern 11011 is forbidden. We show that a numerical monoid M is WIC if and only if s(M) contains no forbidden patterns. We also show that for every finite set S of forbidden patterns, there exists a numerical monoid M that is not WIC and for which s(M) contains no stretch (in a natural sense) of a pattern in S.