Cape Charles, off Wise Point tidal current predictions

Now

Flood 0.5 ktToward NW (305°)

Next slack

Sat 12:07 AMEDT

Next max flood

0.9 ktSat 9:01 AM

Next max ebb

0.3 ktSat 4:03 AM

Knots along the channel: above the line the flood, running in toward NW (305°); below it the ebb, running out toward ENE (75°). Times are Eastern Daylight Time. Today: ebb 0.2 kt 3:31 AM, slack 5:25 AM, flood 0.8 kt 8:24 AM, slack 12:01 PM, ebb 0.3 kt 3:56 PM, slack 5:48 PM, flood 0.8 kt 8:39 PM.

• Gale Warning Gale Warning issued September 25 at 9:47PM EDT until September 26 at 10:00PM EDT by NWS Wakefield VAUntil Sat 10:00 PM
  Full text

  * WHAT...North winds 20 to 30 kt with gusts up to 40 kt and waves 6 to 9 ft. * WHERE...Chesapeake Bay from New Point Comfort to Little Creek VA and Chesapeake Bay from Little Creek VA to Cape Henry VA including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. * WHEN...Until 10 PM EDT Saturday. * IMPACTS...Strong winds will cause hazardous waves which could capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility.

  Mariners should alter plans to avoid these hazardous conditions. Remain in port, seek safe harbor, alter course, and/or secure the vessel for hazardous conditions.

The flood is the tidal current running in from the sea, the ebb the current running back out. Slack water is the short turn between them, when the current is weakest: the time to cross a strong channel, anchor, or dive. Slack in a channel is not the time of high or low tide; it can come hours after.

Speeds are knots along the channel's main axis, and directions are degrees true toward which the water flows, as NOAA prints its tables. A current against the wind stands the waves up steep and close together.

Predictions are astronomical: the moon and the sun, not the weather. Strong wind, river flow after heavy rain and storm surge all change the real current. This is a subordinate station: NOAA predicts it from a nearby harmonic station by fixed corrections to the times and speeds of its slack waters and maxima, so the curve between them is less exact.

• Fishermans I., 1.1 miles northwest ofSubordinate current station1.6 mi
• Fishermans I., 0.4 mile west ofSubordinate current station1.8 mi
• Fishermans I., 1.4 nmi WNW ofSubordinate current station2.1 mi
• Fishermans Island, 0.5 nmi SW ofSubordinate current station2.4 mi
• Fishermans Island, 1.4 miles WSW ofSubordinate current station3.0 mi
• Fishermans Island, 1.7 nmi south ofSubordinate current station4.0 mi
• Butler Bluff, 2.1 nmi WSW ofSubordinate current station4.2 mi
• Fishermans Island, 2.45nm south ofSubordinate current station4.9 mi

• Tide times at Fishermans Island 1.4 mi
• Tide times at Smith Island (Coast Guard Station) 3.4 mi
• Tide times at Kiptopeke 3.6 mi
• Forecast for Cape Charles, VA
• Open the live map with tidal currents
• All tidal current stations in Virginia

Tidal current predictions from NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), station ACT4626, bin 1: original at NOAA. Marine alerts from the National Weather Service.