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Weather Service Keeps Eye On 2 Disturbances

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The National Hurricane Center is watching two disturbances, one just off the South Carolina coast and one in the Atlantic Ocean, both with the potential to develop.

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 13, 2008

TAMPA - The National Hurricane Center is watching two disturbances, one just off the South Carolina coast and one in the Atlantic Ocean, both with the potential to develop.

Hurricane Bertha has weakened into a tropical storm that's nearly stationary a bit more than 200 miles southeast of Bermuda. The storm moved little most of Saturday and forecasters expect it to remain in place through Sunday afternoon.

The disturbance about 130 miles southeast of Charleston, S.C., comes from a stalled low pressure area. The hurricane center said it could become better organized over the next couple days as it heads to the northeast.

The second disturbance forecasters are watching is about 1,600 miles southeast of the Windward Islands is heading west at just over 15 mph.

The hurricane center said the tropical wave is entering an area where conditions are favorable for the disturbance to develop further. Early forecast models have the wave continuing west and into the Caribbean Sea by the end of the week.

The disturbance has winds just a bit higher than 20 mph.

Bertha may drift closer to Bermuda over the next day or so. Steering currents around the storm are weak as Bertha waits for an area of high pressure or low pressure to begin moving it.

The storm will grow weaker the longer is remains motionless as it pulls cooler water to the surface. Once Bertha starts moving, the storm should run into cooler water and more shear that will further degrade the storm.

But forecast models keep Bertha as a tropical storm with winds of about 55 mph through Tuesday.

Toward the end of the week, Bertha is forecast to move back to the east, and then southeast as an area of low pressure emerges into central Atlantic.

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