Hurricane Bertha certainly has left its mark on Portsmouth and the rest of Southeastern Virginia.

HURRTRAK4.2 NC/VA Plot of Bertha
After the bust with Hurricane Felix in 1995, residents of the area were skeptical that Bertha would become the storm about which the NWS warned. Thanks to the continuous forecast techniques of the NWS, with its continual refinements, the storm lived up to the expectations of locals.

Friday the 12th dawned mostly cloudy, but a few breaks provided occasional morning sun with tropical warmth and humidity abounding. Showers moved into the area as the first feeder bands from Bertha moved into the area from off of the NC coast. The first significant rainfall through late morning left 0.63" of rain. Winds at this point were gusting to the mid 20 mph range.

Shortly before 6 PM, when power was lost at this station until 11:45 PM EDT, resulting from moisture-laden tree limbs falling on power lines, winds began to pick-up and gradually increased to peaks of ESE 46 mph just before 10 PM and the highest peak of E 54 mph at 2:36 AM EDT Saturday morning.

Rainfall: Friday 2.78"... Saturday 0.61"... Storm total 3.39"

Thunderstorms: Embedded thunderstorms were noted in late evening Friday [12th] and early Saturday [13th] morning

Barometric pressure: Minimum 29.373"

The storm's center moved north-northeast some 25 miles west of this station between 2 and 3 AM Saturday morning.

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                                                 WIND
  TIME   TEMP  HIGH   LOW   BAR   HUM  DEW   STDY  GUST DIR  RAIN
                 (DURING            %  PT.  (miles per hour)(INCHES)
                INTERVAL)                                     
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07-12-96 Friday  

 1:00am  72.0  72.3  71.6  30.225  80  64.2     5    14   E  0.00
 2:00am  71.7  71.8  71.5  30.204  84  65.9     4    13   E  0.00
 3:00am  71.8  71.9  71.8  30.177  89  67.6     5    15 ENE  0.00
 4:00am  71.9  72.1  71.9  30.172  92  69.0     4    14 ENE  0.00
 5:00am  72.2  72.3  72.0  30.174  94  70.1     4    13   E  0.00
 6:00am  72.2  72.3  72.1  30.179  97  70.8     5    13   E  0.00
 7:00am  72.3  72.4  72.2  30.167 100  71.9     7    11   E  0.00
 8:00am  72.5  72.6  72.3  30.171 100  72.5     4    12   E  0.00
 9:00am  73.0  73.5  72.5  30.177 100  73.0     5    14   E  0.21
10:00am  71.2  73.5  69.9  30.165 100  71.2     7    22   E  0.42
11:00am  73.0  75.2  70.9  30.145 100  73.0     4    15   E  0.00
12:00pm  76.8  77.7  75.2  30.121  89  75.1     6    20 ESE  0.00
 1:00pm  78.3  79.0  77.6  30.122  84  73.9     7    24 ESE  0.00
 2:00pm  77.3  77.9  77.0  30.081  87  72.6     7    22   E  0.00
 3:00pm  76.5  77.3  75.1  30.073  96  73.8    10    24 ESE  0.03
 4:00pm  74.4  75.1  73.3  30.040 100  73.8     5    19 ENE  0.03
 5:00pm  72.2  73.3  71.1  30.004 100  72.2     5    19 ENE  0.10
 6:00pm  71.0  71.2  70.8  29.978 100  71.0     5    26 NNE  0.58
 7:00pm  71.3  71.8  70.9  29.916 100  71.3     7    24   E  0.18
 8:00pm  71.9  72.5  71.5  29.863 100  71.9    10    34   E  0.24
 9:00pm  72.6  72.9  72.2  29.811 100  72.6    17    38 ESE  0.20
10:00pm  72.3  72.5  72.1  29.762 100  72.3    16    46   E  0.72
11:00pm  71.8  72.4  71.5  29.707 100  71.8    15    33   E  0.03
12:00am  71.5  71.7  71.2  29.644 100  71.5    19    31   E  0.04

07-13-96 Saturday

 1:00am  71.0  71.2  70.6  29.556 100  71.0    17    47   E  0.09 RW
 2:00am  70.4  70.6  70.2  29.477 100  70.4    18    40   E  0.26 TRW
                           ******                    ******
 3:00am  70.0  70.2  69.8  29.373 100  70.0    23    54   E  0.16 RW
                           ******                    ******
 4:00am  69.9  70.2  69.7  29.422 100  69.9    23    48  SE  0.06 RW
 5:00am  70.3  70.5  70.2  29.500 100  70.3    17    38 SSE  0.02 RW
 6:00am  70.6  70.6  70.4  29.564 100  70.6    16    35   S  0.00 
 7:00am  70.2  70.4  69.9  29.627 100  70.2    15    32 SSW  0.02 RW
 8:00am  69.9  70.0  69.8  29.675 100  69.9    15    34 SSW  0.00
 9:00am  69.9  70.4  69.7  29.741 100  69.9    14    33 SSW  0.09 RW
10:00am  71.5  73.2  70.4  29.782  97  71.1    13    26  SW  0.00
11:00am  75.9  78.4  73.3  29.815  85  73.1    13    28  SW  0.00
12:00pm  80.5  82.5  78.4  29.846  74  73.6    12    29 SSW  0.00
 1:00pm  83.5  84.7  82.5  29.842  63  72.0    13    28 SSW  0.00
 2:00pm  85.7  86.7  84.7  29.852  63  71.7    11    25 SSW  0.00
 3:00pm  87.4  88.1  86.6  29.857  59  72.3    11    28   S  0.00
 4:00pm  88.1  88.4  87.7  29.859  57  71.5    12    27   S  0.00
 5:00pm  88.2  88.5  87.8  29.863  59  71.6    11    24   S  0.00
 6:00pm  87.5  88.2  86.8  29.861  62  72.2    10    21 SSW  0.00
 7:00pm  86.3  86.8  85.8  29.876  67  72.9     7    18   S  0.00
 8:00pm  84.3  85.8  82.7  29.885  73  73.5     5    15   S  0.00
 9:00pm  81.8  82.7  81.1  29.916  78  73.3     5    11 SSW  0.00
10:00pm  80.3  81.1  79.5  29.937  83  73.8     5    14   S  0.00
11:00pm  79.3  79.6  79.1  29.952  84  73.9    10    19 SSW  0.00
12:00am  78.3  79.1  77.6  29.958  88  73.8    10    18   S  0.00
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       TOTAL 3.39"
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