Forecast trajectory of the tropical depression expected to become Tropical Storm Bertha as of July 20, 2026. NOAA/NHC/Screenshot via The Epoch Times
The second named storm of the 2026 hurricane season is expected to form off the coast of Florida shortly, as a strengthening, spinning tropical depression heads northwest.
Positioned 105 miles south of Panama City, Florida, and 195 miles southeast of Mobile, Alabama, the storm is expected to grow as it inches its way off the coast of Florida’s Big Bend to then scrape across the rest of the Gulf Coast states over the next several days.
“The depression is moving erratically toward the northwest near three mph (six km/h),” the National Hurricane Center warned in its 4 p.m. CT advisory on July 20.
“A slow northwestward motion is expected through tonight and Tuesday morning, followed by a turn toward the west-northwest or west.
“On the forecast track, the depression will move near or along the northern Gulf Coast during the next several days.”
Its maximum sustained winds are 35 mph. If those sustained winds increase to at least 39 mph, the tropical depression will become Tropical Storm Bertha.
Tropical Storm watches are in effect for the entire stretch of Gulf Coast between Ochlockonee River, Florida, to the Jefferson/Plaquemines Parish border in Louisiana.
A storm surge warning is in effect for the Florida–Alabama state line and the mouth of the Mississippi River.
The National Hurricane Center is predicting as much as two to four feet of surge for those areas, with other areas from Indian Pass, Florida, to Chassahowitzka, Florida, and from Morgan City, Louisiana, to the mouth of the Mississippi River receiving one to three feet.
Lake Ponchartrain is also expected to receive one to three feet of storm surge.
The National Hurricane Center said that surf-related flooding will be dependent upon the time of the surge relative to the tide cycle.
In terms of rainfall, two to four inches is forecast across the Gulf Coast, with isolated areas expected to get as much as eight inches. Flash flooding could be possible in urban areas.
This storm spent several days off the west coast of Florida’s peninsula generating the counterclockwise rotation identified with tropical storms and hurricanes.
It threw bands of wind and rain and rip currents over Tampa Bay and most of Florida’s west coast across the Big Bend and Nature Coast through Panama City.
Those bands brought several inches of rain and wind gusts exceeding 45 mph.
The focal point of this storm’s development has continued to move west from the Florida–Georgia line, over the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of America.
Tropical Storm Bertha comes a little more than one month after Tropical Storm Arthur, which briefly affected Galveston, Texas, the surrounding northeast corner of the Lone Star State’s Gulf Coast, and parts of western Louisiana.
