Bertha Strengthens to Hurricane Status

Hurricane Bertha is strengthening off of Florida’s east coast Monday.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami upgraded it from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane Monday morning.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, the storm’s coordinates are about 29 degrees north and 74 degrees west, located about 560 miles west-southwest of Bermuda.

Bertha has maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour and is moving north at about 18 mph.

The storm is forecast to continue northward then northeastward and become extratropical, affecting Newfoundland by Thursday.

The United States is not expected be directly affected by the storm.

Bertha has becomes the second-named storm and second consecutive hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season.