OutrunMarine
Search

Weather & Water

Small Craft Advisory

Technical visualThunderstorm over water
Thunderstorm over waterA boat lies ahead of an approaching thunderstorm cell, lightning, and a bounded warning area.APPROACHING CELLVESSEL
Thunderstorm over waterA boat lies ahead of an approaching thunderstorm cell, lightning, and a bounded warning area.121APPROACHING CELL2VESSEL
Treat thunderstorm hazards as a combined wind, wave, visibility and lightning problem; use official warnings and current observations.

As of 3 September 2026, Small Craft Advisory remains current NWS operational terminology.

NWS criteria are geographically defined. There is no one national wind or sea threshold Outrun Marine should hardcode as "the SCA threshold."

NWS also does not define one vessel size that constitutes "small craft." Boat size, design, seaworthiness and operator capability matter.

Production requirement: obtain the actual alert from NWS, including affected zone and issued text. Do not recreate the alert locally from a guessed wind threshold.

All Learn references