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Storms That Hit

NHC AL021996 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Bertha (1996)

July 5, 1996 – July 17, 1996

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

Hurricane Bertha peaked at Category 3 with 115 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 2,427 US cities, 168 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Bertha in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Bertha from July 5, 1996 to July 17, 1996; its peak was 115 mph (Category 3). HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on July 12 at 104 mph (Category 2), 6 miles from Wrightsville Beach, NC. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 2,427 US cities, in 16 states and territories, most in New Jersey (455) and New York (341). The strongest pass was 104 mph (Category 2) 1 mile from Carolina Beach, NC; the centre came closest to Little Neck, NY, less than a mile away.

Peak strength
Category 3

115 mph

Cities within 75 mi
2,427
At hurricane strength
168

when closest

States
16
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Cities Bertha passed near, strongest first

North Carolina (182)

and 122 more

South Carolina (15)

Puerto Rico (39)

Virginia (121)

and 61 more

New Jersey (455)

and 395 more

New York (341)

and 281 more

Massachusetts (324)

and 264 more

Pennsylvania (225)

and 165 more

Connecticut (186)

and 126 more

Maryland (175)

and 115 more

New Hampshire (122)

and 62 more

Rhode Island (49)

Delaware (37)

Vermont (5)

District of Columbia (1)

Maine (150)

and 90 more

Other storms of the 1996 season

All hurricanes and tropical storms →

About this record

The track is the National Hurricane Center's best-track record, revised after the season with every observation available. Strength at a city is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, not the wind that city measured.