page_title: Hurricane Bertha (1996)
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Bertha (1996) / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Track map of Hurricane Bertha of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds as classified in the Saffir–Simpson scale (see below), and the shape of the data points represent the nature of the storm, according to the legend below. Saffir–Simpson scale Tropical depression≤38 mph≤62 km/h Category 3111–129 mph178–208 km/h Tropical storm39–73 mph63–118 km/h Category 4130–156 mph209–251 km/h Category 174–95 mph119–153 km/h Category 5≥157 mph≥252 km/h Category 296–110 mph154–177 km/h Unknown Storm type Tropical cyclone Subtropical cyclone Extratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance / Monsoon depression
context_page_description: Hurricane Bertha was an intense and early-forming major hurricane that affected areas from the Leeward Islands to the United States in July of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season. The second named storm, first hurricane, and first major hurricane during the season. Bertha originated from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa in early July. Steadily organizing while moving generally towards the west, the disturbance was designated as a tropical depression at 0000 UTC on July 5, and was further upgraded to a tropical storm by 1200 UTC later that day. Over the next few days, continued intensification occurred, and Bertha became a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, the first hurricane of the season, prior to moving through the northern Leeward Islands. Late on July 8, a period of rapid intensification began, and at 0600 UTC on July 9, Bertha reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph with a minimum barometric pressure of 960 mbar.
context_section_description: On July 1, a tropical wave emerged off of the coast of Africa. On July 3, a weak low-level circulation developed while located 500 miles (800 km) south of Cape Verde. The disturbance moved westward, and on July 5, it strengthened into a tropical depression in the central Atlantic. The depression tracked westward across the open waters of the Atlantic along the western periphery of a subtropical ridge. Later that day, the depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and was named Bertha. Over the next three days, Bertha tracked west-northwest while gradual intensification was occurring. On July 7,  Bertha was upgraded to a hurricane with sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h) while east of Guadeloupe.
  The next day, the center of circulation passed over Antigua as Bertha traversed the extreme northeastern portion of the Caribbean Sea causing moderate to minor damages. After that, Bertha passed rapidly in the southern portion of Sint Maarten. The storm gradually turned to the northwest on July 9 as maximum sustained winds reached 115 mph (185 km/h) while located 120 miles (190 km) northwest of Puerto Rico. Because the highest winds were located on the northeastern portion of the circulation, Puerto Rico received only tropical storm force winds near 50 mph. Forward speed slowed to 15 mph (25 km/h) as Bertha passed within 60 miles (100 km) of the Turks and Caicos, just before reaching its peak intensity.
  Continuing its gradual turn, the track soon became north-northwest as the forward speed slowed further to 10 mph (16 km/h) on July 10 and July 11. On July 12, Bertha made landfall between Wrightsville Beach and Topsail Beach. Bertha lost hurricane intensity just after landfall. It then accelerated to the northeast along the East Coast of the United States, producing winds of up to 60 mph (100 km/h). It moved north, and lost all of its tropical characteristics by July 18.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
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