8:47 AM
As of 5 AM EDT, hurricane bertha is a major storm, with winds sustained at 120 MPH with higher gusts. Hurricane Bertha may have even reach category 4 strength briefly yesterday because; the lowest pressure recorded was 943 MB, which is equivalent to a category 4 hurricane. Nevertheless as of this morning, the eye seems to be closing it bit, and thunderstorm activity has decreased, which indicates weakening. Hurricane Bertha is expected to move towards the north and northwest as the ridge of high pressure over it weakens. Thus, Hurricane Bertha will not be a threat for any land areas, perhaps not even Bermuda. Eventually, Bertha is expected to stall due to the weak steering currents, and subsequently move towards the northeast as a trough of low-pressure pulls it. I am not trying to scare anyone by saying this but, Hurricane Jeanne did in 2005 did something similar to that by stalling, and then curve westward. However, the chance of that happening to Bertha is much lower because the ridge is weaker.Elsewhere in the tropics:
Some of the models such as the GFS and the UKMET are forecasting possible tropical development about 140 hours (6 days) from now. All eyes should indeed remain in the tropics this week.