Special Marine Warning Issued for Rhode Island Sound and Coastal Waters
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on April 17, 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.
The National Weather Service has issued a Special Marine Warning for Rhode Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, and surrounding areas, with severe thunderstorms bringing wind gusts of 34 knots and hail until 4:30 PM EDT.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Rhode Island Coastal Waters
- Issued
- April 17, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Boston/Norton MA
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 Rhode Island Coastal Waters.
Special Marine Warning Alert
Alert Details
The National Weather Service in Boston/Norton MA has issued a Special Marine Warning, effective from 3:24 PM EDT until 4:30 PM EDT on April 17, 2026.
Affected Areas
This warning affects Rhode Island Sound, Narragansett Bay, Block Island Sound, and Coastal Waters from Montauk NY to Marthas Vineyard extending out to 20 NM South of Block Island. Specific locations include Watch Hill, Charlestown Breachway, Dutch Harbor Light, Block Island Sound, The Coastal Waters West Of Block Island, Point Judith Light, Castle Hill Light, Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island Sound, and The Coastal Waters Between Block Island And Marthas Vineyard.
What You Should Do
Move to safe harbor until hazardous weather passes. If caught on the open water, stay below deck if possible and keep away from ungrounded metal objects due to frequent lightning.
Expected Conditions
Severe thunderstorms with wind gusts of 34 knots or greater and hail up to penny size are expected. The storms are moving southeast at 30 knots.
Timeline
The alert is effective from 3:24 PM EDT on April 17, 2026, and expires at 4:30 PM 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 (1,171 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to April 17, 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this NWS weather alert.