Bertha Is Born

Tropical Storm Bertha was born at 11am this morning. It was a Tropical Depression this morning at 5am, but was shown to have characteristics of a weak Tropical Storm so the National Hurricane Center Upgraded it. Right now it is expected to trek across the open waters of the Atlantic. Below is a image from satellite. It is not well organized but it does have the definitive shape of a tropical cyclone.


Right now she has maximum winds at 40mph which is the minimal strength for a tropical storm. An update comes out in about an hour from the National Hurricane Center so if anything significant changes I will post it here. This is very early in the Hurricane Season to have a classified system this far east in the Atlantic. What is known as the Cape Verde Season does not normally begin until mid August. Back in 1996, Hurricane Bertha came through eastern NC in the middle of July. Bertha 1996 also formed from a Tropical Wave that came off the coast of Africa but did not get its act together until much further west then Bertha 2008. Very cool to see development out there this early in the season!