Special Marine Warning Issued for Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD
This alert is no longer in effect.
NOAA issued it on May 18, 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 Baltimore MD/Washington DC has issued a Special Marine Warning for the Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD until 5:15 PM EDT due to a strong thunderstorm producing wind gusts of 34 knots or greater.
Read this weather record in 30 seconds
- Record type
- Special Marine Warning
- Affected area
- Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD
- Issued
- May 18, 2026
- Issuing authority
- NWS Baltimore MD/Washington DC
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 Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD.
Alert Details
A Special Marine Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia for the Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD. The alert was sent at 4:19 PM EDT on May 10, 2026, and is effective immediately.
Affected Areas
The warning covers the Tidal Potomac from Key Bridge to Indian Head MD. Locations impacted include Tidal Basin, Fort Washington, Reagan National Airport, Woodrow Wilson Bridge, Key Bridge, Fort Hunt, National Harbor, and Alexandria.
What You Should Do
Boaters should move to safe harbor until hazardous weather passes. Small craft operators face the risk of being thrown overboard by suddenly higher winds and waves that could capsize vessels.
Expected Conditions
A strong thunderstorm was located 14 nm west of Key Bridge at 4:19 PM EDT, moving east at 30 knots. Radar indicated wind gusts of 34 knots or greater.
Timeline
The warning is in effect from 4:19 PM EDT until 5:15 PM EDT on May 10, 2026.
Original source: NOAA Official Notice ↗
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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 (980 characters here).
Similar severity timing
Same severity (high) notices issued closest in time to May 18, 2026.
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