Hurricane Bertha (2014)

Basin

North Atlantic

Dates

July 29, 2014 to August 9, 2014

Peak strength

Category 1, 70 kt (81 mph)

Lowest pressure

996 mb (29.41 inHg)

Landfall

Yes

Accumulated cyclone energy

5.5

Tropical-storm-force wind reached

140 nmi (259 km, 161 mi) from the center at its widest

Hurricane-force wind reached

20 nmi (37 km, 23 mi) from the center at its widest

Eyewall radius at its peak

15 nmi (28 km, 17 mi)

Overall size

140 nmi (259 km, 161 mi) to the outermost closed isobar

Peak gust in the best track

80 kt (92 mph)

Fastest the center moved

48 kt (55 mph)

Identifier

AL032014

The sources count different things and are not added together.

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

NOAA’s Storm Events database, the record National Weather Service offices compile months after a storm, as compiled March 2026.

Deaths

1 (1 direct, 0 indirect)

Injuries

0

Property damage

none recorded

Crop damage

none recorded

Events recorded

20 in 4 reports from 4 states and marine areas

State by state

What was recorded

8 tropical storm, 5 heavy rain, 3 flash flood, 2 flood, 1 marine thunderstorm wind, 1 high surf.

The strongest winds National Weather Service offices recorded with this storm. An estimated figure is a forecaster’s judgment from the damage, not an instrument reading.

From the Storm Events narratives, unedited.

A 58 year old Massachusetts man was swept away by high surf while fishing on rocks at Beavertail State Park in Jamestown, RI. His body was recovered from the surf along the rocky shoreline. Tropical Storm Bertha was spinning off the coast of North Carolina, churning up seas and sending them northward, contributing to the high surf along the Rhode Island coast.

Newport, Rhode Island · High Surf · Aug 6, 11:15 UTC

• Hurricane ArthurNorth Atlantic · 2014Cat 285 kt · 973 mb
• Unnamed tropical depressionNorth Atlantic · 2014Tropical Depression30 kt · 1012 mb
• Hurricane CristobalNorth Atlantic · 2014Cat 175 kt · 963 mb
• Tropical Storm DollyNorth Atlantic · 2014Tropical Storm45 kt · 1000 mb
• Hurricane EdouardNorth Atlantic · 2014Cat 3105 kt · 955 mb
• Hurricane FayNorth Atlantic · 2014Cat 170 kt · 983 mb
• Hurricane GonzaloNorth Atlantic · 2014Cat 4125 kt · 940 mb
• Tropical Storm HannaNorth Atlantic · 2014Tropical Storm35 kt · 1000 mb

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

• Tropical cyclone report, National Hurricane Center
• Every advisory and discussion NHC issued while it was live
• Best track as KMZ, National Hurricane Center
• Wikipedia article: Hurricane Bertha