Tropical Storm Bertha’s four-day stint as a disorganized and largely unmemorable tropical cyclone came to an end late Thursday, as its circulation unraveled over eastern Texas.
While the storm came inland along the Texas/Louisiana border Thursday afternoon – much farther north than initially expected and outside of the NHC forecast cone issued early Thursday morning – after riding the coastline of southern Louisiana all morning, it left little mark on eastern Texas besides elevated tides at the coast and isolated pockets of heavy rainfall, mainly in a few residential suburbs southwest of Houston.
The highest wind reports across the upper Texas coast stayed under the 39 mph tropical storm threshold on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Houston. Rainfall totals did top 5.7 inches in parts of Fort Bend County, which did require a flash flood warning at around 9 PM local time Thursday.
The Flash Flood Warning in southwest Houston, however, was the only such flood watch or warning issued yesterday for Bertha. The rest of eastern Texas outside of the Houston metro largely saw light rainfall totals of 1 to 3 inches or less.
Some lingering rainfall associated with Bertha’s remnants continues through South Texas, west of San Antonio, this morning, but the storm’s remnants will quickly push into northern Mexico today, where it’ll continue to fizzle out, with no major impacts expected.
Atlantic basin closed for business until further notice
Overall conditions across the Atlantic basin look unsupportive for tropical development over the next few weeks, especially in the main development belt stretching from Africa through the Caribbean.
If we see any candidates for development into the first week of August, they will likely come out of the subtropics, either in the eastern Gulf like Bertha or east of Florida. For now though, our models are showing a whole lotta nothing on the Atlantic side to round out July and into the first week of August, so enjoy the 7th inning stretch before the peak of the season ramps up later in August.
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