Special Marine Warning Issued for NC-SC Coastal Waters
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NWS Wilmington NC has issued a Special Marine Warning for waters from Surf City NC to South Santee River SC from 20 to 60 NM due to a severe thunderstorm capable of producing waterspouts.
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- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Coastal Waters off North Carolina and South Carolina
- Issued
- August 22, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Wilmington NC
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: publication date is recent, but current status is not stored on this page. Check the issuing agency's live warning service before acting because warnings can be updated, narrowed, or cancelled.
Alert Details
A Special Marine Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service in Wilmington NC. The alert is effective from August 21 at 11:10 PM EDT until August 22 at 12:15 AM EDT.
Affected Areas
Waters from Surf City NC to Little River Inlet SC from 20 to 60 NM and waters from Little River Inlet SC to South Santee River SC from 20 to 60 NM.
What You Should Do
Boaters should seek safe harbor immediately until these storms pass. If caught on the open water, prepare for deteriorating conditions. Make sure you and your crew are wearing properly fitted life jackets.
Expected Conditions
A severe thunderstorm capable of producing waterspouts was located 14 nm southeast of Sunset Mid Shelf Buoy, moving east at 10 knots. Hazards include waterspouts and wind gusts 34 knots or greater.
Timeline
The warning is in effect from 2026-08-21T23:10:00-04:00 until 2026-08-22T00:15:00-04:00. The severe thunderstorm will remain over mainly open waters.
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 (975 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to August 22, 2026.
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