Hurricane Bertha (2008) classified as a tropical depression by 06:00 UTC on July 3, located about 255 miles (410 km) south-southeast of Cabo Verde. The NHC noted that global modelling suggested the possibility of tropical development over a week prior, a "remarkable achievement" at the time. The storm's cloud pattern continued to coalesce, and it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Bertha six hours later. On the southern periphery of a mid-level ridge over the open Atlantic, Bertha moved swiftly west-northwest to northwest for several days. Despite being embedded within an environment of low vertical wind shear, the storm passed over ocean temperatures near
Hurricane Bertha (1996) occurred, and Bertha became a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale, the first hurricane of the season, prior to moving through the northern Leeward Islands. Late on July 8, a period of rapid intensification began, and at 0600 UTC on July 9, Bertha reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of with a minimum barometric pressure of . Moving around the western periphery of the subtropical ridge, Bertha passed north of the Bahamas as a weakening hurricane before turning towards the north-northeast and undergoing another period of rapid intensification. Late on July 12, Bertha made landfall between