La Plata, Maryland — live current conditions, hourly and 7-day forecasts, NWS alerts, aviation weather, radar and satellite imagery, tide predictions, marine conditions and a solunar fishing forecast for La Plata, Charles County.
Tides, marine forecast and fishing conditions near La Plata. Tide source:
Flight conditions near La Plata. Data source: locating…
La Plata rests in a landscape of gentle, rolling hills, where the air, especially in the humid embrace of summer afternoons, carries the faint, sweet scent of ripening corn and the distant hum of cicadas. It lies 5.5 miles south-south-west of Saint Charles, MD (from Saint Charles, MD: bearing 201°T), and is situated 6.9 miles east of Charles. The terrain, a soft, fertile loam, slopes gradually towards the broad, languid waters of the Potomac River estuary, its tributaries like Port Tobacco Creek and Mattawoman Creek weaving through the countryside, their banks often fringed with dense stands of oak, maple, and the occasional towering pine. The skies here, vast and often painted with dramatic cloud formations, cast a particular kind of light, especially at dusk, when the setting sun bleeds across the horizon in hues of rose and amber, softening the edges of the fields and lending a serene, almost ethereal glow to the scattered farmhouses and their weathered barns. Life in La Plata unfolds with a measured cadence, a quiet dignity that seems to echo the slow, deliberate flow of the nearby waterways. The history of La Plata is deeply entwined with the agricultural bounty of Southern Maryland, a region long celebrated for its tobacco fields, which once defined the local economy and shaped its early settlements. The land itself, worked for generations, holds the echoes of that past, evident in the enduring presence of historic plantations and the enduring appeal of the county's agricultural heritage. Today, while farming remains a vital thread, La Plata has diversified, with a growing service sector and a population drawn to its convenient access to larger metropolitan areas, yet still cherishing its small-town character. Notable landmarks, like the historic Charles County Courthouse, stand as silent sentinels to the passage of time, while the nearby Port Tobacco River offers opportunities for recreation, its waters reflecting the changing seasons and the persistent, quiet beauty of this corner of Maryland.
Live animated radar for La Plata and surroundings — RainViewer.
NOAA GOES-16 GEOCOLOR — live animated loop updated every 10 minutes. Shows cloud cover, storm systems and weather patterns across the continental US.
Source: NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East · Public domain · Auto-updates on page reload
| Location | La Plata, Charles County, Maryland |
| Coordinates | 38.529288°N, 76.975251°W |
| Timezone | Eastern Time (America/New_York) |
| ZIP Code(s) | 20646 |
| Area Code | 301, 240 |
| Page generated | July 2026 |
| Weather data | Open-Meteo (open-source), NOAA National Weather Service |
This page provides live weather conditions and forecasts for La Plata, Maryland, including current conditions, a 24-hour hourly forecast, 7-day outlook, NWS extended text forecast, real-time aviation weather (live METAR and TAF reports from the nearest reporting airport, with a modeled estimate shown when no station is in range), precipitation radar and NOAA GOES-16 satellite imagery. Additional sections may include tide predictions, wave height, wave direction and sea-surface temperature, a barometric pressure trend, and a solunar-based fishing forecast with a fishing-conditions rating for coastal localities, and soil temperature, crop weather and live USGS river gauge data for agricultural areas near a monitored waterway. All data updates automatically on every page visit.
Location data for La Plata includes coordinates 38.529288°N, 76.975251°W, situated in Charles County. ZIP code 20646. Telephone area code: 301, 240. Timezone: Eastern Time (America/New_York).
Weather data is sourced from the NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) and the open-source Open-Meteo API. Aviation data is sourced from aviationweather.gov (NOAA), with a modeled estimate used where no nearby reporting station is available. River and stream data is sourced from the USGS National Water Information System. Tide predictions are sourced from NOAA CO-OPS; marine and solunar data are modeled from Open-Meteo and public sunrise/moon calculations and should be treated as a general guide alongside on-the-water conditions. Radar is provided by RainViewer. Satellite imagery is sourced from NOAA/NESDIS GOES-East and is public domain.