Tropical Hurricane Bertha, the second one named hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic storm season, shaped off the coast of Alabama on Monday, threatening to carry heavy rain and the potential of flash flooding alongside the northern Gulf Coast.
The Nationwide Storm Middle mentioned a Hurricane Surge Watch used to be in impact for the Alabama, Mississippi, and southeastern Louisiana coasts, the place a life-threatening hurricane surge used to be imaginable.
The season’s first named hurricane — Tropical Hurricane Arthur — introduced heavy rain and flash flooding to portions of southern Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi final month.
The place is the hurricane now, and what’s its trail?
Consistent with the storm heart’s newest advisory, as of five a.m. ET on Monday:
The hurricane used to be situated about 110 miles south-southwest of Panama Town, Fla., and about 170 miles southeast of Cell, Ala.
It has most sustained winds of fifty mph
It’s transferring northwest at 5 mph
Tropical Hurricane Bertha.
(NHC/NOAA)
It’s anticipated to slowly flip west over the next day to come or so and transfer close to or alongside the northern Gulf Coast over the approaching days, doubtlessly making landfall in southeast Louisiana through midweek.
Watches and warnings in impact
A tropical hurricane caution is in impact for:
The Alabama/Florida border to the Jefferson-Plaquemines Parish border in Louisiana
Which means tropical hurricane prerequisites are anticipated someplace inside 36 hours.
A hurricane surge watch is in impact for:
The Alabama-Florida border to the mouth of the Mississippi River
This implies there’s a risk of life-threatening prerequisites from emerging water transferring inland all over the following 48 hours.
A tropical hurricane watch is in impact for:
Bay/Gulf County line in Florida westward to the Florida/Alabama border
West of the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish border to Morgan Town, Louisiana
Metropolitan New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain, and Lake Maurepas
Which means tropical hurricane prerequisites are imaginable within the subsequent 24 to 48 hours.
The largest threats from the hurricane
The main affects from the machine is predicted to be heavy rain, wind and hurricane surges, which might result in flash flooding around the Gulf Coast, particularly in spaces — like Texas’s Hill Nation — that not too long ago skilled torrential rainfall.
Consistent with forecasters, the hurricane is predicted to supply 2 to 4 inches of rain alongside the Gulf Coast till Thursday, with as much as 6 inches imaginable in remoted spaces.
A hurricane surge of as much as 4 ft is imaginable in coastal Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama/Florida border.
Swells generated through the machine may reason life-threatening surf and rip currents at seashores right through the Gulf.
How is the 2026 Atlantic storm season shaping up?
The 2026 Atlantic storm season started on June 1 and lasts till Nov. 30. And forecasters with the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Management are predicting 8 to fourteen general named storms — which is thought of as a below-normal season for the Atlantic basin. Out of the ones named storms, 3 to 6 are forecast to grow to be hurricanes, together with one to a few primary hurricanes (thought to be Class 3, 4 or 5).
A mean season has 14 named storms, together with seven hurricanes and 3 primary hurricanes.
The 2025 Atlantic storm season produced 13 named storms, together with 5 hurricanes and 4 primary hurricanes.
