Hurricane Bertha Weakens to Category 1 Storm

MIAMI | Forecasters say Hurricane Bertha has weakened to a Category 1 storm.

As of 5 p.m. Tuesday, the center of the storm was about 620 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and about 900 miles southeast of Bermuda.

Maximum sustained winds decreased to 85 mph with some higher gusting. The storm is expected to continue weakening over the next couple of days. The Atlantic season's first hurricane is headed to the northwest at about 12 mph.

Bertha is expected to continue heading toward Bermuda. Forecasters urged people on the island to continue monitoring the storm's progress. Large swells and high surfs could affect portion of Bermuda late tomorrow.

It's unknown if or when the hurricane will make landfall.

Daniel Brown, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center, said Bertha was expected to stay at roughly the same intensity for the next day or two.

"Conditions aren't going to change too much over the next couple days, so it will likely remain a strong hurricane," Brown said.

The hurricane center has projected 12 to 16 named storms in the Atlantic this season, with six to nine of them hurricanes.

The U.S. has not been hit by a major hurricane since 2005, the busiest season on record, which brought a destructive triple-punch of Katrina, Wilma and Rita ashore.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs through Nov. 30.