Special Marine Warning Issued for Chesapeake Bay and James River Areas
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 27, 2026, 3 months ago. Warnings of this kind stay in effect for hours to a few days, so this page is a historical record of what was issued, not a current warning. For conditions where you are right now, check weather.gov (US), weather.gc.ca (Canada), the Met Office (UK), or the Bureau of Meteorology (Australia).
Areazine synthesizes this NWS weather alert directly from NOAA's official public data feed. See our methodology for full source attribution and refresh cadence.
The National Weather Service has issued a Special Marine Warning for parts of Chesapeake Bay and James River in Virginia, with wind gusts up to 34 knots expected until 12:45 PM EDT on April 19, 2026.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Chesapeake Bay and James River, Virginia
- Issued
- April 27, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Wakefield VA
Marine notices apply to named waters or shoreline zones. They may not describe conditions on land, even when the nearest place name is the same.
Record status: historical. It was issued 3 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Chesapeake Bay and James River, Virginia.
Special Marine Warning Alert
Alert Details
The National Weather Service in Wakefield has issued a Special Marine Warning, effective from 11:30 AM EDT on April 19, 2026.
Affected Areas
The warning affects the following areas: Chesapeake Bay from New Point Comfort to Little Creek VA; Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel; James River from Jamestown to the James River Bridge; and James River from JRB to HRBT, including the Elizabeth River.
What You Should Do
Mariners are advised to move to safe harbor until the hazardous weather passes and to seek safe shelter due to expected gusty winds and increasing waves.
Expected Conditions
The hazard includes wind gusts of 34 knots or greater, with a front moving south at 30 knots.
Timeline
The alert is effective from 11:30 AM EDT and will expire at 12:45 PM EDT on April 19, 2026.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
Related Weather Alerts
All Weather Alerts →Nationwide notices with similar length or severity timing 8
Two Areazine-derived peer sets for this NWS weather alert: nearest notices by body length and by same severity near the same agency date. Peers come from other categories so they are not the same-feed Related list above.
Similar body length
Nearest notices by article body length (908 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to April 27, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.