Cape Charles Light to the NC border — Marine Forecast

Virginia Beach's ocean front and the outer approaches to the Bay mouth. This is the official National Weather Service zone forecast for Coastal Waters from Cape Charles Light to Virginia-North Carolina border out 20 NM (zone ANZ656), shown in full and refreshed every time the page loads, with the advisories in effect and what the buoys are measuring right now.

Tide stations in this zone

• Cape Henryfishing
• Virginia Beachfishing
• Rudee Inlet, interior channelfishing
• Rudee Inlet entrancefishing
• Rudee Heights, Lake Wesleyfishing
• Lake Rudee, south endfishing
• Sandbridgefishing

Neighbouring zones — Atlantic coast

• Fenwick Island to Chincoteague →
• Chincoteague to Parramore Island →
• Parramore Island to Cape Charles Light →

All zones →

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.

Forecast text © NOAA National Weather Service, public domain. Buoy data: NDBC and NOAA CBIBS, relayed every 10 minutes. BayCharts adds the context and the links; it does not alter the forecast.