Early on July 1, a strong and big tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa. By early the next day, a surface low developed and the wave became more organized. The National Hurricane Center upgraded the system to Tropical Depression Two in the morning hours of July 3 after the system was able to keep convection over its center for at least 12 hours. The depression organized further and developed two distinct bands of convection. Six hours after becoming a depression, it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Bertha, the second named storm of the season. The National Hurricane Center said that this tropical cyclone was predicted by up to a week in advance by many global computer models.