Special Marine Warning Issued for Northeast Florida Coastal Waters
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on May 16, 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.
NWS Jacksonville has issued a Special Marine Warning for coastal waters off Florida and Georgia due to a severe thunderstorm with wind gusts 34 knots or greater and large hail.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia coastal waters
- Issued
- May 16, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Jacksonville 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 Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia coastal waters.
Alert Details
A Special Marine Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service in Jacksonville FL. The alert is effective from May 8, 2026 at 9:50 PM EDT until May 8, 2026 at 11:15 PM EDT.
Affected Areas
Coastal waters from Altamaha Sound to Fernandina Beach FL out 20 NM; Coastal waters from Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine FL out 20 NM; Waters from Altamaha Sound GA to Fernandina Beach FL from 20 to 60 NM; Waters from Fernandina Beach to St. Augustine FL from 20 to 60 NM. Locations impacted include Dungeness, Saint Marys Entrance Buoy 16, Amelia City, Buoy Kby, and Whittakers Snapper Hole Reef.
What You Should Do
Move to safe harbor until hazardous weather passes. If your vessel is caught offshore, immediately secure for heavy weather. Ensure all crew members are wearing USCG approved Type I life jackets and nonessential crew are below decks. Deploy jack lines and harnesses if available. Check life saving equipment, including batteries on handheld radios, for readiness.
Expected Conditions
At 9:49 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located 15 nm west of Amelia City, or 38 nm southwest of St. Simons Island, moving east at 25 knots. Hazard includes wind gusts 34 knots or greater and large hail.
Timeline
The warning is in effect until 11:15 PM EDT on May 8, 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 (1,308 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to May 16, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.