Bertha is now trekking through southern Louisiana as a heavily lopsided tropical storm after making landfall in St. Bernard Parish. Locally heavy rain, gusty winds and coastal flooding are possible as the storm moves west along the Gulf Coast.

(MORE: El Niño factoring into hurricane season outlook)

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Tropical storm warnings extend from the Alabama/Florida border to Cameron, Louisiana. This includes the city of New Orleans.

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Tropical storm watches extend from west of Cameron, Louisiana to Sargent, Texas.

These alerts mean tropical storm conditions are either possible (watch) or expected (warning).

(MORE: Tropical Storm Bertha maps tracker)

Where Bertha is now

Bertha is passing through southern Louisiana with most of its thunderstorm activity blown southwestward by strong winds aloft. A few bands of gusty showers are expected across the northern Gulf Coast through the night.

A wind gust of 41 mph was reported on Dauphin Island, Alabama this afternoon. Some gusts to near 50 mph were clocked in Pensacola, Florida, this morning, and other gusts from 40 to 50 mph were clocked Tuesday in Apalachicola (46 mph) and Panama City (41 mph).

Generally, from 2 to 3 feet of coastal inundation was recorded by gauges from Pensacola, Florida, to the immediate Gulf Coast locations in southeast Louisiana.

Here is the latest forecast

Where Bertha may go

Bertha will continue westward, riding on the southern periphery of a heat dome of high pressure over the U.S. Bertha's brush of the Louisiana coast will last into Thursday afternoon.

The National Hurricane Center says there's a possible scenario in which a separate center of circulation could reform within the cluster of thunderstorms south of Bertha's current center. If this happens, that could pose a higher risk of tropical storm conditions for Texas.

That hasn't happened, yet, but it's something we will continue to monitor.

Bertha should arrive in coastal Texas later Thursday and dissipate by early Friday morning. Much of the impacts from Bertha will not be near its landfall point, but further south.

Bertha is battling wind shear and dry air, two nemeses of tropical storms. Given that, a general weakening trend is expected.

In fact, there is a chance Bertha succumbs to wind shear and dissipates sooner than the forecast above indicates.

Forecast impacts

Rain

Due to this wind shear and dry air coming from the mainland, Bertha may not bring heavier rain to a coastline until it – possibly – gets to central or southern Texas on Friday.

That said, we can't rule out isolated areas of flash flooding along the northern Gulf Coast.

The best chance for at least locally heavy rain now appears to be in parts of South Texas, as the map below shows. For now, we expect this rain to mainly stay south of flood-ravaged central Texas.

Coastal Flooding

Some coastal flooding, especially at high tide, can be expected along parts of the northern Gulf Coast through Thursday.

Up to 3 feet of inundation is possible along the Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana coasts.

Wave action in the Gulf will also be accompanied by rip currents, so it's probably best to stay out of the water at Gulf Coast beaches this week, even if the weather at the time looks okay.

A few tropical tornadoes or waterspouts can't be ruled out along the northern Gulf Coast, as well.

Bertha's history

The National Hurricane Center issued its first advisory on T.D. Two late Sunday morning as it was centered south of Panama City, Florida.

A Hurricane Hunter mission found sustained winds of 40 mph Monday evening, making the system Tropical Storm Bertha – the second storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

Bertha's winds peaked at 60 mph on Tuesday evening, before beginning its weakening trend.

Tropical Storm Bertha made landfall near the Biloxi Wildlife Management Area in St. Bernard Parish Wednesday afternoon (July 22).

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.​