Hurricane BERTHA Public Advisory Home Public Adv Fcst/Adv Discussion Wind Probs Maps/Charts Archive 000 WTNT32 KNHC 080831 TCPAT2 BULLETIN HURRICANE BERTHA ADVISORY NUMBER 21 NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL022008 500 AM AST TUE JUL 08 2008 ...POWERFUL BERTHA MAINTAINING MAJOR HURRICANE STATUS... AT 500 AM AST...0900Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE BERTHA WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 21.4 NORTH...LONGITUDE 53.3 WEST OR ABOUT 675 MILES... 1085 KM...EAST-NORTHEAST OF THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS AND ABOUT 1035 MILES...1660 KM...SOUTHEAST OF BERMUDA. BERTHA IS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH...17 KM/HR...AND THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT 48 HOURS. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 120 MPH...195 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. BERTHA IS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY MAY OCCUR TODAY... BUT A GRADUAL WEAKENING TREND IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN WITHIN THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 30 MILES...45 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 115 MILES...185 KM. ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 955 MB...28.20 INCHES. REPEATING THE 500 AM AST POSITION...21.4 N...53.3 W. MOVEMENT TOWARD...NORTHWEST NEAR 10 MPH. MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...120 MPH. MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...955 MB. THE NEXT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER AT 1100 AM AST. $$ FORECASTER PASCH
Just hours after Tropical Storm Bertha became the first hurricane of the , Bertha strengthened to a "major" storm at category three on the five-step  scale of hurricane intensity, the  (NHC) said.

Five-day track map of Hurricane Bertha.At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm was packing sustained winds of 120 miles an hour and was located about 695 miles east-northeast of the Northern  and about 1085 miles southeast of Bermuda. Forecasters say that Bertha is moving west-northwest at about 12 miles an hour and is expected to slow down in the next couple of days. "A gradual turn toward the northwest with a decrease in forward speed is expected over the next couple of days," the NHC said.

While the NHC noted that it is still too early to tell if Bertha will strike land, residents are being urged to continue to monitor the storm's progress. Further strengthening is unlikely, according to the NHC, due to unfavorable atmospheric conditions.

Bertha first formed on Thursday in the eastern Atlantic off of Africa. The storm is the easternmost tropical storm to form over the Atlantic in the month of July.