Special Marine Warning Issued for Mississippi Sound and Chandeleur Sound Through Early Thursday
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 6, 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 is in effect for the Mississippi Sound and surrounding coastal waters until 1:00 AM CDT due to severe thunderstorms capable of producing waterspouts.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Mississippi and Louisiana Coastal Waters
- Issued
- April 6, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS New Orleans
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 Mississippi and Louisiana Coastal Waters.
Alert Details
The National Weather Service in New Orleans has issued a Special Marine Warning for the Mississippi Sound, Chandeleur Sound, and coastal waters from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to Stake Island out 20 nautical miles. This alert was triggered by radar-indicated severe thunderstorms moving through the region.
Affected Areas
The warning covers the following geographic regions and coastal locations:
- Mississippi Sound
- Chandeleur Sound
- Coastal waters from Pascagoula to Stake Island
- Impacted land-adjacent areas include Pascagoula, Biloxi, Ocean Springs, Gulf Park Estates, Horn Island, and Ship Island.
What You Should Do
Boaters and anyone near the water should take immediate safety precautions:
- Ensure all persons on board are wearing life jackets.
- Seek shelter or move to a safe harbor immediately until the hazardous weather passes.
- If caught on open water, stay below deck if possible and keep away from ungrounded metal objects to avoid lightning strikes.
- Note that a Tornado Watch remains in effect for southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi until 2:00 AM CDT.
Expected Conditions
At 11:56 PM CDT, a line of severe thunderstorms was located extending from 13 nautical miles northwest of Grand Bay to 10 nautical miles west of Chandeleur Sound, moving east at 25 knots. Expected hazards include:
- Waterspouts: Capable of quickly forming and capsizing boats or damaging oil rigs.
- Wind: Gusts of 34 knots or greater.
- Waves: Suddenly higher waves caused by wind and storm activity.
- Lightning: Frequent lightning is occurring within these storm cells.
Timeline
The Special Marine Warning is effective immediately and is set to expire at 1:00 AM CDT on March 12, 2026.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
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