Special Marine Warning Issued for Pamlico Sound and Nearby NC 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This alert is no longer in effect.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 Newport/Morehead City has issued a Special Marine Warning for Pamlico Sound and adjacent coastal waters until 9:30 AM EDT due to a severe thunderstorm capable of producing waterspouts.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Pamlico Sound, North Carolina
- Issued
- May 16, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Newport/Morehead City 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: historical. It was issued 3 months ago; use the issuing agency's live warning service for current conditions in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina.
Alert Details
A Special Marine Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City NC. The alert is effective from May 9 at 8:31 AM EDT until May 9 at 9:30 AM EDT.
Affected Areas
The warning covers Pamlico Sound, waters south of Cape Hatteras NC to Ocracoke Inlet NC out to 20 NM, and waters south of Ocracoke Inlet NC to Cape Lookout NC out to 20 NM. Impacted locations include Ar255, Ocracoke, Ar250, and Ocracoke Inlet.
What You Should Do
Seek safe harbor immediately. Thunderstorms can produce sudden waterspouts that can easily overturn boats and create locally hazardous seas.
Expected Conditions
A severe thunderstorm capable of producing waterspouts was located over Ar255 near Ocracoke Inlet, moving northeast at 10 knots. Hazards include waterspouts and wind gusts of 34 knots or greater.
Timeline
The alert is in effect from 8:31 AM EDT to 9:30 AM EDT on May 9, 2026.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
Related Weather Alerts
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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 (926 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to May 16, 2026.
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