At a Glance

Bertha was a quick-developing tropical storm near Charleston, South Carolina. It brought rain to the Carolinas and Virginias.Bertha was the second pre-season tropical storm of the Atlantic Hurricane Season.

Bertha made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph just to the east of Charleston, South Carolina, Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. EDT, according to the National Hurricane Center. This landfall occurred about one hour after Bertha quickly formed near the South Carolina coast Wednesday morning.

Bertha's track history

Bertha formed from a tropical disturbance we tracked since Memorial Day weekend near Florida. That disturbance brought more than a foot of rain in three days to Miami, where it triggered on Tuesday.

Its circulation center became much better defined on Doppler radar as it approached the South Carolina coast on Wednesday morning. Buoy reports also indicated tropical-storm-force winds near that center of low pressure.

It was deemed a tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center since it had all the characteristics of a tropical storm. That includes a well-organized area of low pressure, collocated showers and thunderstorms and tropical-storm-force winds.

After landfall, Bertha quickly moved northward over the Carolinas and Virginias with a swirl of rainfall and gusty winds.

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