Special Marine Warning Issued for Florida Straits and Hawk Channel
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on May 13, 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 Hawk Channel and Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key, effective until 3:00 AM EDT on May 4, 2026, due to a strong thunderstorm with wind gusts exceeding 34 knots.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Florida Straits and Hawk Channel
- Issued
- May 13, 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 3 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Florida Straits and Hawk Channel.
Special Marine Warning in Florida Waters
Alert Details
This Special Marine Warning was issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) Key West FL. It is effective from 2:37 AM EDT on May 4, 2026.
Affected Areas
The warning covers Hawk Channel from Ocean Reef to Craig Key out to the reef, Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key out 20 NM, and Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key 20 to 60 NM out. Specific locations include South Rips, Islamorada Hump, Davis Reef Light, Floyd's Wall Northeast, and Eagle Wreck.
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 is located over Islamorada Hump, moving east at 20 knots. Hazards include wind gusts of 34 knots or greater, suddenly higher waves, frequent lightning, and heavy downpours.
Timeline
The alert is effective from 2:37 AM EDT on May 4, 2026, and expires at 3:00 AM EDT on the same day.
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 (1,089 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to May 13, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.