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Hi Friends! As you may have heard, our second named storm of the 2008 hurricane season has developed into a major hurricane with winds of 115 mph as of Monday July 7th... and the long range track has it coming very close to Bermuda this weekend.

You may remember another Hurricane Bertha if you have a fondness for these big storms...or perhaps had your July 1996 vacation spoiled by her. Hurricane names are recycled every 6 years if they don't become costly or deadly storms... a great deal of sensitivity is given to what kind of damage the storm creates at landfall. The first Bertha was an unusually early season Cape Verde hurricane that formed at exactly the same time as this storm on July 1st 1996 off the coast of Africa. It eventually made landfall on the North Carolina coast on July 12th as a weak category 2...with top winds around 105 mph. The damage was primarily between Wrightsville and Topsail Beach--with Kure Beach taking a pretty big hit and losing their fishing pier. The storm did 250 million in damage and was responsibile for 8 deaths..damaging to be sure, but not enough to retire the name. Here's a link to the archive on the 1996 Bertha from the Hurricane Center.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1996bertha.html

I remember the 1996 Bertha very well because Fox sent me down to cover it! It was the first time I had ever experienced a hurricane and it was one of the most exciting and frightening things I have ever done. Because Bertha wasn't horrendously strong by hurricane standards, my photographer and I stayed out in it almost the whole time it was making landfall. What a learning experience! Even with a cat 2 hurricane I could barely stand up...and it made me realize that there's no such thing as a weak hurricane! We expected it to make landfall to our south around Hilton Head, and were we ever shocked when the eye passed right over us while we were out shooting. As the wind stopped and the sun came out, I remember thinking, "oh no--is it over already?" only to have the wind start howling like a wild animal 30 minutes later. Most of the camera crews didn't shoot the eye because we just figured the storm had missed us and was over. The sideways rain felt like needles but the water was incredibly warm and the air was fragrant with tropical scents. We ended up being right where we needed to be just as Bertha made landfall. I'll never forget it...and this new storm born around the same time of year is a powerful trigger! Let's hope this Bertha stays offshore!

Here is video of Fox's Noon News where I was the last live shot before the satellite trucks had to shut down...about two hours before Bertha's worst winds came ashore.