Chesapeake Bay Marine Forecasts by Zone
The National Weather Service splits the Bay, its tidal rivers and the nearby coast into forecast zones. Pick the water you will be on: each page shows the full zone forecast, an hourly wind and wave chart, any Small Craft Advisory or warning in effect, live buoy observations, and the tide stations and harbors in that zone.
Tap any zone on the map to see its week. Peak wind (and gusts), largest waves and rain chance per day from the NWS forecast grid; amber ≥ 18 kt, red ≥ 34 kt.
no advisorySmall Craft AdvisoryGale / Storm warning⬆ buoy wind, points downwind, with knots and wave heightChecking advisories…
Labels show each zone's current forecast period (wind · waves); zoom in for names. Esri Ocean basemap; NWS zone boundaries; radar: NOAA NEXRAD composite via Iowa State Mesonet, past hour.
Upper Bay
- North of Pooles Island →Loading forecast…
- Pooles Island to Sandy Point →Loading forecast…
- Patapsco River & Baltimore Harbor →Loading forecast…
Mid Bay
- Sandy Point to North Beach →Loading forecast…
- North Beach to Drum Point →Loading forecast…
- Drum Point to Smith Point →Loading forecast…
Lower Bay
- Smith Point to Windmill Point →Loading forecast…
- Windmill Point to New Point Comfort →Loading forecast…
- New Point Comfort to Little Creek →Loading forecast…
- Little Creek to Cape Henry →Loading forecast…
Tidal Potomac
- Key Bridge to Indian Head →Loading forecast…
- Indian Head to Cobb Island →Loading forecast…
- Cobb Island to Smith Point →Loading forecast…
Eastern Shore rivers
- Chester River to Queenstown →Loading forecast…
- Eastern Bay →Loading forecast…
- Choptank & Little Choptank →Loading forecast…
Western Shore rivers
- Patuxent River to Broomes Island →Loading forecast…
Tangier Sound
- Tangier Sound & Bloodsworth Island →Loading forecast…
Virginia rivers
- Currituck Sound →Loading forecast…
- Rappahannock River →Loading forecast…
- York River →Loading forecast…
- James River →Loading forecast…
Atlantic coast
- Fenwick Island to Chincoteague →Loading forecast…
- Chincoteague to Parramore Island →Loading forecast…
- Parramore Island to Cape Charles Light →Loading forecast…
- Cape Charles Light to the NC border →Loading forecast…
Reading the forecast
- Small Craft Advisory — sustained winds of 18–33 kt and/or seas hazardous to small boats are expected; on the Bay that usually means 2–4 ft of short, steep chop. Gale Warning: 34–47 kt. Storm Warning: 48 kt and up.
- Waves are significant wave height — the average of the highest third; expect occasional waves half again as high. Bay chop is short-period (3–5 seconds between crests), so 2 ft here feels far rougher than 2 ft of ocean swell — and wind over open water builds it fast: the longer the fetch, the bigger the waves.
- Go / Caution / No-go on these pages is planning guidance computed from the NWS forecast with the thresholds printed beside it — an advisory always outranks it, and it is no substitute for the official forecast or your own judgment.
- Winds are in knots (1 kt = 1.15 mph). “Becoming” means a shift during the period; gusts are listed when they matter.
- Zone forecasts are issued by the NWS Baltimore/Washington, Wakefield or Mount Holly offices about every six hours and amended when conditions change; the issue time is shown under the text.
- Wind against the current builds the roughest water — check the current predictions for the passages you will cross.