As in the second storm of this young hurricane season. Bertha formed today off the west coast of Africa. These "Cape Verde" storms, so called because of their proximity to the isolated islands usually don't begin to appear until early August. So you may first begin to wonder if this is a sign of an earlier start to a bust hurricane season. It's a little too early to tell. Water temperatures in the eastern Atlantic are a bit warmer than last year and we didn't see the first Cape Verde storm until Dean in mid August.

The hurricane names are recycled every six years and it is interesting to note that Bertha was used in 2002 and 1996. In the latter year, it formed just a little west of this year's version and became a major hurricane that eventually struck the North Carolina coast:

It too formed in early July and was part of a series of storms that formed off the coast of Africa and eventually made the trek across the ocean to the Caribbean and the U.S.

Bertha is early in its journey and will likely turn up into the north Atlantic toward cooler water and weaken. Of course, we'll keep you posted.

1 Comments

Randy Patterson said:

I would like to know how they can pinpoint the location of a tropical storm or hurricane down to the 10th of a degree.

July 16, 2008 9:16 AM

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