Hurricane Bertha: July 12, 1996

Hurricane Bertha made landfall in southeastern North Carolina as a category 2 hurricane on July 12, 1996.  Bertha's wind speeds were measured as high as 116 mph at the Frying Pan Shoals tower off Cape Fear.  On land, gusts exceeded 90 mph at Kure Beach, Wrightsville Beach, and Figure Eight Island, and reached 108 mph at the New River Marine Corps Air Station near Jacksonville, NC.  Bertha was the first significant storm to affect the area since 1984's Hurricane Diana struck almost twelve years earlier.  Bertha's arrival unfortunately began a four year period of frequent, damaging hurricanes for eastern North Carolina that would ultimately include Hurricanes Fran, Bonnie, and Floyd.

Bertha began as a tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic Ocean on July 1, 1996.  During the evening of July 4th the National Hurricane Center began issuing advisories on a newly-formed tropical depression midway between the African coast and the Lesser Antilles islands, upgrading it to Tropical Storm Bertha the next day.  Bertha acquired hurricane force winds on July 7th, and on July 9th strengthened into a major hurricane (category three) with winds of 115 mph while located a short distance north of Puerto Rico.  This was very early in the hurricane season for such an intense storm to develop; the last time a category three storm occurred so early in an Atlantic hurricane season was in 1966 when Hurricane Alma reached category three intensity on June 8.

After passing Puerto Rico on July 9th, Bertha turned northwestward and slowed its forward speed as it entered the Bahamas.  Moving northward on July 11th a few hundred miles east of the Florida coast, Bertha weakened rather substantially as northwesterly wind shear developed over the storm.  Maximum sustained winds decreased to 80 mph versus 115 mph only two days earlier.  Visible satellite imagery from July 11th showed deep thunderstorms confined to the east side of Bertha's circulation, with an exposed low-level swirl of clouds around the actual center.  Thunderstorms wrapped back around the center during the morning of July 12th as the storm approached the North Carolina coast.  Maximum sustained winds strengthened to 105 mph before landfall, which occurred at 4:00 pm over Figure Eight Island, NC.

A Hurricane Watch was issued for the entire coast of North and South Carolina at 11 pm on July 10th.  This watch was upgraded to a Hurricane Warning at 5 pm on July 11th.  A FEMA report estimated 750,000 people evacuated the Carolinas ahead of Bertha.  Residents of the North Carolina coast awoke on July 12th to rain and wind gusts of 20-30 mph; these winds increased to 40-60 mph by late morning and beyond hurricane force near the beaches during the afternoon.  Bertha's strongest winds and landfall occurred near the time of low tide which helped prevent more significant coastal flooding and erosion than was observed.  The largest storm surge of 8 to 10 feet was observed in Swansboro and Emerald Isle along the Onslow County, NC coast just east of where the eye came ashore.

Hurricane Bertha was responsible for 12 deaths and caused at least $270 million in damage within the mainland United States.  Bertha also spawned seven confirmed tornadoes, including one in North Carolina, one in Virginia, and five in Maryland.

In addition to impacts on people, hurricanes often blow oceanic birds far off course and inland.  A Wilson's Storm-Petrel was observed on Lake Pinehurst in Moore County, NC on July 13, 1996.  At Cape May, NJ, eight Black-capped Petrels were observed.  Virtually every inland record of these species is associated with landfalling hurricanes.

Despite the impact Hurricane Bertha had in the Caribbean and United States, it didn't meet the notoriety thresholds needed to retire the name.  In 2002 Tropical Storm Bertha affected Louisiana and Texas; in 2008 Hurricane Bertha affected Bermuda; and in 2014 Hurricane Bertha affected parts of the Caribbean islands.

Hurricane Bertha radar loop showing landfall of the storm along the coast of New Hanover and Pender counties in North Carolina. Loop runs from 4:03 AM to 6:41 PM on July 12, 1996.

H*Wind analyses of wind fields around Hurricane Bertha:  July 8-12, 1996   Source: NOAA/AOML/HRD

Newspaper articles on Hurricane Bertha from the Wilmington Morning Star newspaper  -- now called the Wilmington Star-News

Additional Information on Hurricane Bertha

Official National Hurricane Report:  http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL021996_Bertha.pdf

Hurricane Bertha NWS Service Assessment:  https://www.weather.gov/media/publications/assessments/bertha.pdf

Bertha overview from NWS Newport/Morehead City:  https://www.weather.gov/mhx/Jul121996EventReview

County-specific impacts from NCDC's Storm Data Publication:  Charleston, Georgetown, Horry, Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, Onslow, Carteret, Pamlico

Research and Page Author: Tim Armstrong
Date Created: July 7, 2016
Last Updated: July 18, 2021