Around July 17, a low pressure system formed in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. The disturbance was associated with a broad area of showers and thunderstorms extending over Florida and the waters to the east. The broad system gradually organized and moved very slowly northwestward. On July 19, the circulation was well-defined enough to be designated Tropical Depression Two. Dry air from the mainland U.S. was impinging on the center from the north, limiting convection and slowing strengthening. As a result, it took until the evening of July 20 for the storm to intensify into Tropical Storm Bertha.
A strong ridge over land kept Bertha from gaining much latitude, and it instead turned slowly westward. The storm did deepen some, but most storms remained on the southern side off of land, even though the center was less than 100 km from land. Unusually, this resulted in the main land impact along the Gulf coast being gale force winds. Land interaction and dry air capped Bertha at a moderately strong tropical storm and began to weaken the system on July 21. The next day, it crossed westward over southeastern Louisiana. Bertha briefly emerged over water after that encounter and so managed to maintain tropical storm strength a little longer. On the 23rd, though, it made its final landfall near the Louisiana/Texas border. Once inland over Texas, the system degraded more quickly and dissipated entirely that night.
The image above shows Bertha near peak intensity on July 21. Most cloud cover is displaced south of the center of circulation.
Bertha took a somewhat unusual westward track across the Gulf of Mexico.
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