Tropical Storm Bertha forms off Florida Panhandle

Tropical Storm Bertha has formed in the eastern Gulf and is forecast to move near or along the northern Gulf Coast over the next several days. Tropical storm conditions could begin in the Florida Panhandle late Monday night.

The storm was about 110 miles south of Panama City, Florida, and 190 miles southeast of Mobile, Alabama, as of 7 p.m. CDT Monday. It has maximum sustained winds of 40 miles per hour and is moving west-northwest at about 3 miles per hour.

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hurricane Hunter aircraft found that the depression had strengthened into a tropical storm. Tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 70 miles from Bertha’s center.

The storm has been moving erratically, but a northwestward motion is expected Monday night and Tuesday morning. It is then forecast to turn west-northwest or west while remaining near the northern Gulf Coast. Additional strengthening is possible through Tuesday.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from the Ochlockonee River in Florida to the border between Jefferson and Plaquemines parishes in Louisiana. Tropical storm conditions are possible in the Florida Panhandle late Monday night into Tuesday and across the rest of the watch area late Tuesday night into Wednesday.

A Storm Surge Watch is in effect from the Alabama-Florida border to the mouth of the Mississippi River, where water could rise between 2 and 4 feet above normally dry ground.

A storm surge of 1 to 3 feet is possible along parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast, from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Mississippi River, and around Lake Pontchartrain.

Bertha is expected to bring between 2 and 4 inches of rain, with isolated totals of up to 8 inches, from western Florida to the middle Texas coast through Friday. Flash flooding is possible, particularly in urban areas.

Bertha is the second named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.