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Could St. Maarten be hit by a Second Storm called Bertha?

July 6, 2008

Theoretically it does belong to the possibilities since the current Bertha has left its more northerly track and is now on a westerly track along the 17 degrees North racing towards the northern Caribbean Islands.

Early july 1996 St. Maarten and Saint Martin was hit by a minimal category 1 hurricane called Bertha. The name Bertha was not R.I.P.ed from the hurricane naming structure since it did not cause severy loss of life (one death was attributed directly to this hurricane — a tourist surfing in high seas drowned in the northern section of Puerto Rico) nor did Bertha grow into an intensive category 3 or above named storm which would have stricken the name off the hurricane naming roster.

The current Tropical Storm Bertha (2008) is on a similar track as the 1996 Bertha and strangely enough was “born” on the same location as in 1996… Just south of the Cape Verde Islands. Normally at this time of the year Tropical storms form closer to the Northern Caribbean Islands, but exceptions do occur. The likelihood of two named storms 12 years apart developing under the same name and forming in the same area and following a similar track is very rare if not almost impossible.

But then again the word impossible in weather prediction did get a dent since no-one had ever seen a hurricane category 4 developing south of the Island of Jamaica and moving WESTERLY to eventually hit St. Croix and St. Maarten in 1999 causing tremendous flooding in Philipsburg and Marigot. The Name … Hurricane Lenny.

This name and storm Lenny went into the books as the most unlikely scenario ever to occur in hurricane history. Never before had a hurricane in the Caribbean basin moved from East to West.

So, how about the likelihood of two Storms called Bertha 12 years apart and hitting St. Maarten? Normally any weatherman would tell you… Impossible!

Is it … Impossible?

Written by admin · Filed Under This Hurricane Season 

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