Here is the current location of Hurricane Bertha as of Monday 11:00 pm EDT... THE EYE OF HURRICANE BERTHA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 20.8 NORTH...LONGITUDE 52.8 WEST OR ABOUT 695 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS AND ABOUT 1085 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BERMUDA.

If you are thinking the name Bertha sounds familiar you're absolutely correct! The name Bertha has been given to five prior tropical storms and hurricanes. So, let's take a trip down memory lane...

1957 (August)... Tropical Storm (TS) Bertha formed in the Gulf of Mexico, making landfall near Cameron, LA. She was responsible for minor damage and two deaths

1984 (August)... TS Bertha formed in the mid Atlantic. She was short lived and never approached land.

1990 (Late July)... Hurricane Bertha (Category 1) developed of the SE coast of North Carolina. She caused minor beach erosion along the East Coast of the U.S. Then moderate structural damage and six injuries as it made landfall in Nova Scotia.

1996 (July)... Hurricane Bertha (Major Category 3) developed in the Atlantic and moved across the Leeward Islands. She weakened to a Category 2 hurricane as she made landfall near Wilmington, NC. Two months later this same area was hit by a much stronger hurricane - Fran. Fran caused more than $3 billion in damage (1996 USD) along the Eastern seaboard of the United States, and is blamed for 26 deaths.

2002 (August)... TS Bertha formed only two hours before making landfall in Louisiana. It weakened and moved back into the Gulf of Mexico, then hit South Texas as a tropical depression. This Bertha only caused minimal damage, however, one person drowned.

2008 (July)... Hurricane Bertha is a Category 3 with wind speeds of 120 mph. Right now Bertha is over the open waters of the Atlantic and looks like it may be affecting the island of Bermuda sometime Saturday morning. She should leave the U.S. alone.

How do they name the hurricanes...?
In 1953, the U.S. National Weather Service, began using female names for storms.

In 1979, both women and men's names were used. One name for each letter of the alphabet is selected, except for Q, U and Z. For Atlantic Ocean hurricanes, the names may be French, Spanish or English, since these are the major languages bordering the Atlantic Ocean where the storms occur.

Who decides what names are used each year?
The World Meteorological Organization uses six lists in rotation. The same lists are reused every six years. The only time a new name is added is if a hurricane is very deadly or costly. Then the name is retired and a new name is chosen.

3 Comments

anita said:

is hurricane bertha similar in any way to hurricane juan that hit NS canada a few years ago.

July 15, 2008 7:24 AM

http://www.whas11.com/bios/mwebb.js said:

Hi Kathleen,

Thanks for the kind words. My wife "occasionally" tells me I have too much personality :)

Jeremy is now the Chief Meteorologist at KSNT-TV in Topeka, KS right in the heart of Tornado Alley. I spoke to him a couple of months ago and he told me he is loving it.

Thanks for watching!
Monty

July 10, 2008 7:48 PM

Kathleen Foschino said:

I have been watching WHAS11 for many years and I have to say that the team you have now for weather is very enjoyable, knowlegeable, and they have a great personality to go along with it. We do not always just want plain info, sometimes to make light of situations is a pleasure!!

We do miss Jeremy though, no one said what happened to him.

Thank you for doing such a great job!!!

July 10, 2008 6:12 PM

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