Bertha expected to bring waves to East Coast

[Chris Emery]

Time to get out the surf kayak. An early season hurricane is headed West across the Atlantic. National Weather Service upgraded Tropical storm Bertha to Category 1 hurricane status this morning.

It's currently out in the middle of the Atlantic, about a 1,000 miles east of the Carribeans Leeward Islands. It's moving at 15 knots per hour and is forecast to swing northwest over the next few days towards Bermuda. Winds speeds in the storm are sustained at 65 knots and are gusting up to 80 knots.

Predictions have the storm remaining a category one and not making landfall. It's unclear how much swell it will bring to East Coast beach breaks, but chances are it will bring something by the end of this week and just in time for the weekend. Sweet!

A bit of trivia: On this same day in 1996 another hurricane Bertha formed and brought serious swell to the Atlantic coast.

[Chris Emery]

I ended up surfing most of the weekend. It was golden. Saw one guy out in a rec boat of some sort...and he was catching waves in it. I was impressed.

[Jared Edens]

it was awsome this afternoon. I took the boat and stuff to work. And headed right to the beach after. Perfect Glass, chest high.

[WakaWai]

Definitely picking up this evening! Some really nice sets rolling in with more to come tomorrow. Can't wait.

[Chris Emery]

All the surfing websites are predicting the waves to pick up on Thursday and last at least through Sunday.

[Jared Edens]

The weather report here in Wilmington said that the surf would pick up this week-end. Plus the rips, but you can surf those too. So win win.

[Chris Emery]

Looks like Bertha's shifted direction to head northwest, as predicted, but stepped it up a notch to a Category 3. More winds, more waves! Here's a link to the CNN report on the hurricanes latest status.

[Rob Siegel]

I just hope it brings some rain to the southeast.

[WakaWai]

I can't believe that I am at the coast when a storm hits! Hells yeah! Had a couple of good rides this morning here in Nags Head, but for the most part it is FLAT. Will keep posting as the week's surf gets better.

[Jared Edens]

Yeap Yeap, I'm 3 blocks from a really good break down here in NC. I'll be watching everyday.

[Chris Emery]

I'm stoked it's coming so early. Seems like we usually don't see these kind of storms until August.