Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean:

Hurricane Bertha

Table of contents:

Introduction page: 3Hurricane Bertha:

Rise of Bertha page: 4 Wind history page: 5 Rainfall page: 9 Landfall page: 10

Appendix page: 11Sources page: 12

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Introduction:

In this survey I am going to tell you something more about the first hurricane of the season of 2008. Bertha was the first major hurricane and also the first hurricane of this season. She didn’t make landfall, but she was a big storm. She reaches Bermuda, but she never made landfall there. Hurricane Bertha is on the 7th place with the wettest Hurricane that reached Bermuda. Bertha was also the longest hurricane ever lived in the Atlantic Ocean. She was an early Cape Verde hurricane, what made her even more special.

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Arise of Bertha:Bertha arose from a well-defined tropical wave from the west coast of Africa. When this wave reached the Atlantic Ocean, it became more developed and it began to show some signs of convection. The seawater was very high in the area of Cape Verde and there was enough condensation to form the second tropical depression of the season. This also means that Bertha was the first tropical depression that formed in the area of Cape Verde, what made her a Cape Verde hurricane.

Bertha became a tropical Storm after 3 July) and so the second tropical storm was born. She moved further on the Ocean, where the water temperature was favourable to develop more. After 3 days Bertha became a hurricane and not so long after that the first major hurricane was born. (A major hurricane is a hurricane from category 3 and higher) Bertha was a major hurricane for 18 hours and soon after she weakened, she became a hurricane of category 1 or 2 (she was a category 1 for 24 hours and than a category 2 for 24 hours and that 2 times in a row) For more information about the movement from hurricane Bertha I refer to the chapter about Wind History.

Tropical storm Bertha near Bermuda!

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Wind historyThis table shows the wind speed and the pressure of every 6 hours of the lifetime of Hurricane Bertha. Date/time(UTC)

Latitude(North)

Longitude(West)

Pressure(mbar)

Wind speed(knots)

Category

03/0600 12.7 22.9 1008 30 Tropical Depression

03/1200 13.1 24.0 1006 35 Tropical Storm

03/1800 13.2 25.2 1006 35 Tropical Storm

04/0000 13.4 26.5 1006 40 Tropical Storm

04/0600 14.0 27.8 1003 40 Tropical Storm

04/1200 14.8 29.2 1000 45 Tropical Storm

04/1800 15.4 30.8 1000 45 Tropical Storm

05/0000 15.8 32.6 1000 45 Tropical Storm

05/0600 16.3 34.4 1000 45 Tropical Storm

05/1200 16.4 36.4 1000 45 Tropical Storm

05/1800 16.6 38.4 1000 45 Tropical Storm

06/0000 16.8 40.3 1000 45 Tropical Storm

06/0600 17.0 42.3 1000 45 Tropical Storm

06/1200 17.6 44.3 1000 45 Tropical Storm

06/1800 18.4 46.2 1000 45 Tropical Storm

07/0000 18.8 47.9 994 55 Tropical Storm

07/0600 19.1 49.4 987 65 HurricaneCat: 1

07/1200 19.4 50.7 975 80 HurricaneCat: 1

07/1800 19.9 51.6 960 100 HurricaneCat: 3

08/0000 20.6 52.2 955 105 Hurricane Cat: 3

08/0600 21.1 52.9 955 105 HurricaneCat: 3

08/1200 21.8 53.5 970 90 HurricaneCat: 2

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Date/time(UTC)

Latitude(North)

Longitude(West)

Pressure(mbar)

Wind speed(knots)

Category

08/1800 22.4 54.4 980 75 Hurricane Cat: 1

09/0000 22.7 55.2 985 70 Hurricane Cat: 1

09/0600 23.2 56.1 987 65 Hurricane Cat: 1

09/1200 23.8 57.0 987 65 Hurricane Cat: 1

09/1800 24.5 57.8 974 85 Hurricane Cat: 2

10/0000 25.2 58.6 970 90 HurricaneCat: 2

10/0600 25.7 59.1 970 90 Hurricane Cat: 2

10/1200 26.3 59.8 977 80 Hurricane Cat: 2

10/1800 26.9 60.5 980 75 Hurricane Cat: 1

11/0000 27.4 61.0 980 75 Hurricane Cat: 1

11/0600 27.8 61.5 980 75 HurricaneCat: 1

11/1200 28.3 61.8 980 75 HurricaneCat: 1

11/1800 28.8 62.1 976 80 HurricaneCat: 2

12/0000 29.3 62.3 976 80 Hurricane Cat: 2

12/0600 29.5 62.5 976 80 HurricaneCat: 2

12/1200 29.7 62.5 976 75 Hurricane Cat: 1

12 / 1800 29.9 62.5 983 65 Hurricane Cat: 1

13 / 0000 29.9 62.4 984 65 Hurricane Cat: 1

13 / 0600 29.8 62.5 985 65 HurricaneCat: 1

13 / 1200 29.9 62.7 988 60 Tropical Storm

13 / 1800 30.1 62.9 991 55 Tropical Storm

14 / 0000 30.5 63.1 990 55 Tropical Storm

14 / 0600 31.0 63.5 990 55 Tropical Storm

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Date/time(UTC)

Latitude(North)

Longitude(West)

Pressure(mbar)

Wind speed(knots)

Category

14 / 1200 31.6 63.8 994 55 Tropical Storm

14 / 1800 32.5 64.1 995 60 Tropical Storm

15 / 0000 33.5 63.8 995 60 Tropical Storm

15 / 0600 34.3 63.5 995 60 Tropical Storm

15 / 1200 35.3 63.0 995 60 Tropical Storm

15 / 1800 36.2 62.5 995 60 Tropical Storm

16 / 0000 36.7 61.8 995 60 Tropical Storm

16 / 0600 36.8 61.3 995 60 Tropical Storm

16 / 1200 36.8 60.9 995 60 Tropical Storm

16 / 1800 36.3 60.7 995 60 Tropical Storm

17 / 0000 35.7 60.3 996 55 Tropical Storm

17 / 0600 34.9 59.7 997 50 Tropical Storm

17 / 1200 34.3 58.9 997 50 Tropical Storm

17 / 1800 33.9 57.8 997 50 Tropical Storm

18 / 0000 33.7 56.0 997 50 Tropical Storm

18 / 0600 34.4 54.4 995 55 Tropical Storm

18 / 1200 35.5 53.0 995 55 Tropical Storm

18 / 1800 36.9 51.5 989 65 Hurricane Cat: 1

19 / 0000 38.6 49.7 989 65 Hurricane Cat: 1

19 / 0600 40.4 48.0 989 65 HurricaneCat: 1

19 / 1200 42.1 46.3 989 65 HurricaneCat: 1

19 / 1800 43.7 44.3 989 65 Hurricane Cat: 1

20 / 0000 45.3 42.4 990 60 Tropical Storm

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Date/time(UTC)

Latitude(North)

Longitude(West)

Pressure(mbar)

Wind speed(knots)

Category

20 / 0600 47.6 40.0 985 60 Tropical Storm

20 / 1200 50.0 37.0 985 60 extratropical 20 / 1800 53.0 34.0 990 55 extratropical 21 / 0000 55.1 31.0 990 50 extratropical 21 / 0600 58.5 27.0 990 45 extratropical 21 / 1200 29.9 merged

The pink spot represents the highest pressure and wind speed measuring.

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Rainfall:When Bertha reached Bermuda, they expected the worst, because Bertha was a big storm with a lot of rain and wind. Bertha had weakened to a tropical storm when it reached Bermuda, but the impact was great!This table show the wettest tropical storm that reached Bermuda. This table is the record since 1939. As we see here, Bertha is on rank 7 of the wettest hurricanes/tropical storms that reached Bermuda! This is very special, because Bertha was an early Cape Verde Hurricane!

The red spots in this picture here below represent the heaviest rainfall, with possible hail and even tornados!

Rank Rainfall (mm)

Tropical Storm

1 186.7 October 1939 Hurricane

2 151.4 Cristobal (2002)

3 148.0 Nicole (2004)

4 126.2 Franklin(2005)

5 124.0 Harvey(2005)

6 123.2 September 1948 Hurricane

7 121.2 Bertha (2008)

8 115.3 Alice (1973)

9 113.5 Gustav(2002)

10 80.0 Karen(2001)

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Landfall:We could not say that Bertha has made a landfall, because the eye wall never hit the mainland, but she hit an island. When Bertha reached Bermuda she was a tropical storm, but then the danger wasn’t over, because the storm brought a lot of rain and storm surges. The storm surges reached the mainland in New Jersey, and because of this 3 people died because they were surfing in the area of New Jersey and the surges surprised them. They drowned. Moreover the rain caused a lot of trouble in Bermuda, but no damage was reported.

Bertha affected Iceland as well, but there was no damage either. Bertha was the first and earliest tropical storm that made it to Iceland and was also the longest living hurricane on the Atlantic Ocean. Bertha lived for almost 17 days! And Bertha was the earliest major pre-August hurricane.

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Appendix:This summary isn’t a really big one either, because Bertha didn’t make landfall. But Bertha was a really special hurricane! As I said before, Bertha was the longest living hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean and also the longest living Hurricane in the months of July-August and Bertha is now on the 7th place with the wettest hurricane/tropical storm that hit Bermuda.

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Sources:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=20201http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/052o3RJ0Hw5qL/610x.jpghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bertha_2008_track.pnghttp://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/259257main_iss017e010706_lo.jpghttp://www.stormvideographer.com/weathervine/hurricane_bertha_track_satellite08.jpghttp://www.earthweek.com/2008/ew080718/ew080718eLARGE.jpghttp://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ms-word/TCR-AL02008_Bertha.dochttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Bertha_(2008)

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