Tropical storm watch in effect for Florida Panhandle as Tropical Depression Two forms

Robin Webb and Keven Lerner, South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Jul 19, 2026

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Tropical Depression Two formed Sunday morning from a low-pressure system near Florida’s Gulf coast, and it is forecast to become Tropical Storm Bertha within roughly 24 hours, forecasters said.

A tropical storm watch has been issued for Florida from Ochlockonee River to the Alabama border.

As of 11 a.m., the tropical depression was located about 155 miles south of Panama City, moving north-northwest at 2 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. Its maximum sustained winds were at 30 mph.

It could bring 1 to 3 feet of surge along Indian Pass to Chassahowitzka, Florida, according to the latest advisory.

It is expected to move “near or along the northern Gulf coast during the next several days,” the hurricane center said, “bringing at least 2 to 4 inches of rain — with higher localized totals around 8 inches — through Thursday along the eastern and central Gulf Coast from western Florida to southern portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.”

An Air Force Reserve reconnaissance crew is set to investigate the tropical depression.

Weather researchers at Colorado State University recently revised their 2026 Atlantic hurricane season forecast to nine named storms, including four hurricanes and one major hurricane.

This is due, in large part, to expectations of a strong El Niño, “driving high levels of tropical Atlantic vertical wind shear” that tend to tear apart forming storms, according to the CSU report.

The next storm to form after Bertha would be Cristobal.

The height of hurricane season runs from mid-August into October. The season ends Nov. 30.

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