Tropical Storm Bertha crossing southern Louisiana with winds, rain and storm surge
Following a path across southern Louisiana into Wednesday evening, a second landfall is forecast in Texas Thursday.
Bertha officially made landfall in the St. Bernard Parish of Louisiana, near the Biloxi Wildlife Management Area, on the afternoon of July 22 as AccuWeather tracked its path live.
Tropical Storm Bertha is moving slowly inland over southeastern Louisiana and is forecast to reach the upper Texas coast before the end of the week. Bertha's main risk to lives and property will be from flooding rain and storm surge.
Even though Bertha is far from some of the powerhouse hurricanes that have struck the central Gulf Coast over the years, its impacts from heavy rain and rising Gulf waters should not be taken lightly.
Bertha is what AccuWeather meteorologists refer to as a homebrew tropical storm because it formed within a few hundred miles of the United States coast—in this case, over the northeastern Gulf. This particular area was under AccuWeather's watchful eye for well over a week before the storm formed.
“Tropical Storm Bertha has made landfall in far eastern portions of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, as of mid-afternoon," AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva said.
Bertha has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph with a low-level circulation separated from the vast majority of thunderstorms to the south.
This image of the Gulf was captured as Tropical Storm Bertha was making landfall on Wednesday afternoon, July 22, 2026. The center of Bertha was located just to the northeast of the colorful clouds due to northerly wind shear. (AccuWeather Enhanced RealVue™ Satellite)
Bertha is a less than one on the AccuWeather RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes.
"We have been seeing a storm surge of 2-3 feet in portions of the Florida Panhandle, in the panhandles of Alabama and Mississippi and in southeastern Louisiana," AccuWeather On-Air Reporter Anna Azallion said. "A similar storm surge is anticipated to spread farther to the west along the central Gulf Coast. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ surge is 5 feet."
Much of the thunderstorm activity with Bertha has been south of the center and over the Gulf. However, as the storm moves inland, some changes in the structure of the storm's showers and thunderstorms are likely, with bands of heavy rain forecast to wrap over the Florida Panhandle, Alabama and Mississippi, and especially over southern Louisiana, DaSilva stated.
A general 1-4 inches of rain is forecast to fall from the panhandle westward to the upper Texas coast into Saturday. Most of the rain from Bertha has already fallen across parts of the Florida Peninsula and the eastern Florida Panhandle. Downpours will focus from the western part of the Florida Panhandle to southeastern Louisiana into Thursday. As the storm moves along to the west, the downpours will spread westward across southern Louisiana into coastal Texas into the end of the week.
Pockets of heavier rain are anticipated along the immediate path of Bertha, especially in southeastern Louisiana. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ rainfall is 15 inches.
"The center of Bertha is forecast to briefly move back over the Gulf for a brief time on Wednesday night, and there is a remote chance of some minimal reorganization prior to pushing inland over the upper Texas coast on Thursday," DaSilva explained.
AccuWeather meteorologists are cautiously factoring in some variability with Bertha's track, structure and strength after its first landfall in Louisiana.
"Sometimes, in situations like this, the center of the storm may jump toward the bulk of the thunderstorm activity, which is farther to the south of where the lowest pressures are and the circulation is," DaSilva said.
If Bertha were to remain over southern Louisiana and not make it back to the Gulf, much of its circulation could diminish prior to reaching Texas, and the storm would quickly transition from a tropical depression to a tropical rainstorm.
If the center were to jog (or re-form) a bit more to the south and spend a few extra hours over the Gulf, gusty winds could reach the Texas coast, and locally heavy rain could extend beyond the immediate Texas coast and reach into the central parts of the state, even back to the Texas Hill Country. Some localized flash flooding cannot be ruled out in parts of Texas just yet.
Much of Bertha's problematic winds will be confined to the Interstate 10 corridor, similar to most of its rain. Tropical-storm-force winds of 40-60 mph are most likely to occur briefly in squalls and thunderstorms.
There is the potential for a few severe thunderstorms to occur along Bertha's westward path. With these, a couple of tornadoes and waterspouts could be spawned.
"Even though Bertha will bring its share of problems from flooding downpours, storm surge and gusty winds, people along the central Gulf Coast should feel fortunate in that wind shear likely prevented the storm from becoming a major hurricane," DaSilva said.
Bertha was developing some signs of better organization on Tuesday, but stiff northerly breezes at mid-levels of the atmosphere kept most large thunderstorms well to the south, preventing them from wrapping around the center.
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