Hurricane Bertha

Bertha has strengthened to a hurricane this morning....the first one of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. Bertha looks pretty healthy on satellite imagery this morning.

It continues to look more likely that Bertha will re-curve in the Atlantic before threatening the East coast. However, the threat to Bermuda is very much alive. It looks like the stronger the system is, the farther east the eventual track will be due to the incoming trough later in the week having a greater influence on the system. The weaker the system, the farther west it could track. Since Bertha is ahead of 'schedule' in terms of strength, the more eastern solutions seem a bit more likely right now.

Let me caution though...it is still too early to completely clear the East coast from any threat.....we will keep watching.