Tropical Storm Bertha makes landfall in South Carolina

Still days away from the official start of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the Southeast coast of the U.S. on Wednesday was dealing with its second named tropical system in less than two weeks.

Bertha is a leftover from the disturbance that brought Memorial Day flooding to coastal Florida. Once the storm got out over the Atlantic, it gained energy from the warm waters and then it was just a matter of time before it made landfall along the coast of South Carolina approximately 20 miles east of Charleston.

By Wednesday morning, radar images showed the beginnings of a definite spin near the center of the system, according to Accuweather.com. Winds offshore were sustained in the 35-40 mph range with gusts between 40 and 50 mph. A tropical storm has sustained winds of 39 mph or greater.

Based on the wind speed, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) upgraded the system to Tropical Storm Bertha just prior to 8 a.m. EDT. Bertha made landfall around 9:30 a.m. EDT about 20 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. On the AccuWeather RealImpact™Scale for Hurricanes, Bertha is categorized as less than 1.

At the 11:00 a.m. EDT advisory from the NHC, Bertha is moving toward the north near 15 mph (24 km/h) and this general motion is expected to continue through tonight with a gradual increase in the storm's forward speed toward the north as it travels roughly along the Interstate 77 corridor in North Carolina and Virginia.

Maximum sustained winds are near 50 mph (85 km/h) with higher gusts. weakening is forecast during the next 48 hours. Bertha is expected to weaken to a tropical depression later today and become a remnant low tonight.

"Interaction with land and fast movement will be a great limiting factor with major strengthening of this feature, but the main impact will be a continuation of heavy rain moving forward during the middle of the week over the Carolinas then to some extent farther north over the central Appalachians from later Wednesday night to Thursday," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said.

According to CNN meteorologists, the storm will cause flash flooding over portions of the Carolinas and very gusty winds today.

Life-threatening surf and rip currents will be likely along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas throughout the day.