Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall in Louisiana

UPDATE: Tropical Storm Bertha has made landfall at St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana at 3 p.m. on Monday.

According to the National Hurricane Center, the tropical storm warning for the Alabama/Florida border has been discontinued per the latest advisory.

Below is our coverage prior to landfall.

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA (WINK) — Bertha is slow-moving but close enough to bring tropical storm conditions and a coastal flooding risk to the northern Gulf Coast over the next couple of days. Its interaction with the coast combined with strong vertical wind shear is leading to gradual weakening, dropping its intensity to a 50 mph tropical storm at 5:00 AM this morning from 60 mph at 11:00 PM on Tuesday. 

As of 5:00 AM, Tropical Storm Bertha was sitting just offshore in the Gulf, centered 50 miles east of the mouth of the Mississippi River. The storm is crawling west at only 5 mph, and forecasters expect that slow westward drift to continue through Friday, with a slight pickup in speed. 

The track keeps Bertha moving near or along the northern Gulf Coast over the next couple of days. This will keep rough surf and an elevated threat for rip currents present for coastal Southwest Florida. 

How strong is Bertha?

Bertha's top sustained winds are near 50 mph, with higher gusts, and the minimum central pressure is estimated at 998 mb. The good news: the storm is expected to gradually weaken over the next several days. Tropical-storm-force winds stretch out as far as 105 miles from the center. 

Tropical storm conditions are already spreading across parts of the northern Gulf Coast within the warning area today, and could reach into Louisiana's watch area by tonight. Rising water pushing in from the coast, combined with normal tides, could flood areas that are usually dry. Here's how high the surge could get if it peaks at high tide:

Key Messages

1. Tropical storm conditions are expected to continue along the northern Gulf Coast from the western Florida Panhandle to southeastern Louisiana, including Metro New Orleans through tonight. Southwestern Louisiana could see tropical storm conditions tonight into Thursday.
2. A Coastal Flood Warning is in effect for the Mississippi and Louisiana coastlines, where moderate coastal flooding is expected.
3. Folks in extreme western Louisiana and the Upper Texas Coast should keep an eye on the storm, since additional watches or warnings could be issued for that area later today.
4. Isolated flash flooding remains possible through early Friday along the central-to-western Gulf Coast, from western Florida down to southern Texas.

Bertha expected to continue weakening

Bertha's overall structure, wind shear working against it, and its interaction with land are all expected to drive slow weakening over the next day or so. After that, its path forward gets a little less certain. A lot depends on whether the circulation stays parked along the Gulf coast or tries to reorganize farther south, where bursts of thunderstorm activity are firing in the northwestern Gulf.

For now, forecasters aren't straying far from the previous outlook: slow weakening, followed by Bertha moving fully inland over Texas in about 48 hours, becoming post-tropical, and dissipating not long after.