uly 8 (Bloomberg) -- Hurricane Bertha, a `powerful' Category 3 storm, may weaken this week as it passes over the Atlantic away from land, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.
Bertha's maximum sustained winds were blowing at 120 miles (195 kilometers) an hour, the center said in an advisory posted on its Web site shortly after 4:30 a.m. Miami time. The system strengthened yesterday from a tropical storm.
``Some fluctuations in intensity may occur today, but a gradual weakening trend is expected to begin within the next couple of days,'' the center said.
The eye of Bertha, the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic season, was about 675 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and 1,035 miles southeast of Bermuda. The system was moving northwest at 10 miles an hour, and is forecast to swing to the north, possibly threatening Bermuda, about 670 miles east of the North Carolina coast, by July 12.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Bertha is a Category 3 storm, the third-most powerful on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. Category 3 storms have winds between 111 and 130 mph.
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