NWS Issues Special Marine Warning for Monroe County Waters Until 7:30 PM

The National Weather Service office in Key West issued a Special Marine Warning Friday for a broad stretch of Monroe County waters, placing Florida Bay, Hawk Channel, and the Straits of Florida from Ocean Reef to Craig Key out 20 nautical miles under alert through 7:30 p.m. EDT.

The warning, broadcast over the Emergency Alert System under SAME code SMW, sits above a standard Small Craft Advisory on the NWS threat scale. Key West's advisory threshold begins at winds of 20 to 33 knots and seas of 7 feet or greater; a Special Marine Warning requires conditions producing sustained gusts of 34 knots (39 mph) or more, hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or waterspouts. NWS characterizes these as hazardous conditions typically of short duration, usually two hours or less.

Waterspouts rank among the more dangerous SMW triggers in the Keys and can overturn boats while generating locally hazardous seas with little notice. NWS warns that conditions at this level can also produce poor vessel handling and steering response, broaching, capsized dinghies and kayaks, and sudden wave surges capable of damaging small craft. Mariners in the affected zones were advised to seek safe harbor before the warning expired.

The warning zone spans the full width of Monroe County's working waterways. Ocean Reef marks the northern boundary at the top of Key Largo; Craig Key anchors the southern edge of the Straits coverage. Hawk Channel, the navigable passage running between the reef line and the Atlantic-facing Keys, and Florida Bay, the shallow expanse separating the Keys from the Florida mainland, are both included. All affected waters lie within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

The timing hit squarely at the county's economic core. Ocean recreation and tourism account for 58 percent of Monroe County's local economy. Visitors to the Florida Keys spend approximately $3.5 billion annually, supporting more than 24,000 jobs across an island chain of roughly 80,000 residents and generating nearly $400 million in tax revenue, according to the Monroe County Tourist Development Council's FY 2025 Annual Report. Key West alone receives about 750,000 cruise ship visitors each year, while the broader Keys draw roughly 3 million overnight vacationers and more than 400,000 day visitors annually.

A Monroe County TDC Visitor Profile Study from March 2024 found that 38 percent of Keys visitors went fishing, 22 percent snorkeled, and 13 percent went scuba diving. A Special Marine Warning on a spring Friday afternoon, when charter boats work the Hawk Channel flats and dive operators run afternoon trips off the reef, converts directly into pulled lines, postponed departures, and dockside waits.

The warning was set to expire at 7:30 p.m. EDT.