Tropical Depression Bertha Forecast: Latest Track Map, Expected Impact, and Urgent Safety Tips

Tropical Depression Bertha slipped inland over eastern Texas on Thursday evening, losing the last of its tropical-storm punch barely six hours after making a second landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border. At 8 p.m. CDT, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) placed Bertha 10 miles NNE of Houston with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph, moving west at 13 mph; forecasters expect the ragged circulation to “dissipate tonight”. The downgrade ends all tropical-storm warnings, yet lingering threats remain. Tropical Depression Bertha is still dragging bands of Gulf moisture across southeast Texas, where 1–3 inches of rain—locally 4 inches—could trigger isolated flash flooding through early Friday. Dangerous rip currents and rough surf will persist along the upper Texas coast until the low finally unravels. Bertha’s rapid weakening caps a 72-hour run that began Monday as Tropical Depression Two, intensified to a 60-mph tropical storm over the warm northeastern Gulf, then grazed coastal Louisiana on Wednesday before looping back over water and striking again just east of Port Arthur Thursday afternoon. Despite its limited wind field, the storm’s repeated landfalls forced beach closures, prompted localized power outages, and delayed a planned SpaceX Starship launch at Boca Chica. With Bertha fading, the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season’s scoreboard holds at two named storms—Arthur and Bertha—both short-lived Gulf systems. The next name on deck is Cristobal, and long-range models hint at a quiet basin for at least the next week, but forecasters caution that the climatological peak from mid-August to early October still lies ahead. Residents along the Gulf Coast should: • Monitor local forecasts for residual flooding and rip-current advisories. • Avoid driving through water-covered roads; just six inches of fast-moving water can stall most vehicles. • Review hurricane plans now, while the tropics take a breather. For real-time updates, check the NHC’s Tropical Weather Outlook and local National Weather Service bulletins. Bertha may be on its last gasp, but the season is only getting started.