Special Marine Warning Issued for Florida Bay and Surrounding Areas
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 7, 2026, 4 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.
A Special Marine Warning has been issued by NWS Key West FL for Florida Bay and nearby waters due to a strong thunderstorm with wind gusts over 34 knots, effective until 2:45 AM EDT on April 7, 2026.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Florida Bay and surrounding waters
- Issued
- April 7, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Key West FL
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 4 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Florida Bay and surrounding waters.
Alert Details
A Special Marine Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) Key West FL. It is an NWS alert with the code 'MAW' and is categorized as 'Severe' with immediate urgency.
Affected Areas
The warning affects Florida Bay including Barnes Sound, Blackwater Sound, and Buttonwood Sound; Bayside and Gulfside from Craig Key to West End of Seven Mile Bridge. Specific locations in the warning include Sandy Key, First National Bank, East Cape Sable, and Carl Ross Key.
What You Should Do
Prepare for wind gusts in excess of 34 knots, steep and fast-building seas, frequent lightning, and blinding downpours. Stay low or go below, and make sure all on board are wearing life jackets.
Expected Conditions
A strong thunderstorm with wind gusts of 34 knots or greater, suddenly higher waves, frequent lightning, and heavy downpours. The hazard is based on radar observations.
Timeline
The alert is effective from 2:19 AM EDT on April 7, 2026, until 2:45 AM EDT on April 7, 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 (1,015 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to April 7, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.