Early on July 1, a strong and big tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa. By early the next day, a surface low developed and the wave became more organized. The National Hurricane Center upgraded the system to Tropical Depression Two in the morning hours of July 3 after the system was able to keep convection over its center for at least 12 hours. The depression organized further and developed two distinct bands of convection. Six hours after becoming a depression, it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Bertha, the second named storm of the season. The National Hurricane Center said that this tropical cyclone was predicted by up to a week in advance by many global computer models.
After some strengthening on July 6, Bertha was upgraded to a hurricane early on July 7 as satellite and microwave imagery indicated an eye feature had formed. It continued to strengthen that morning. Fast strengthening continued that afternoon and Bertha strengthened into a major hurricane with 125 mph (195 km/h) winds and a well-defined eye. The strengthening trend stopped early on July 8, due to wind shear, and Bertha quickly weakened back to a Category 1 hurricane that afternoon.
Bertha again began to quickly strengthen on July 9 as a new eye had formed and the system became more symmetrical. The NHC upgraded Bertha to a category two hurricane with winds of 105 mph (170 km/h) and stated that Bertha could strengthen further to a major hurricane again, but instead weakened into an 85 mph (135 km/h) category 1 hurricane. Bertha has become the longest-lived pre-August Atlantic tropical cyclone on record. On July 12, Bertha slowed in movement, and was close to becoming still and by July 13 this slow movement weakened the storm to tropical storm strength. On July 18, Bertha strengthened back to a hurricane as its forward motion increased. As it moved over cooler waters, it weakened a bit to a tropical storm late on July 19. It finally became extratropical on July 20 southwest of Iceland.
A disturbance off the Georgia coast slowly organized itself, and became Tropical Depression Three late on July 18. It strengthened into Tropical Storm Cristobal the next day. It continued to be near and parallel to the Carolina coast, though never making landfall. It became extratropical on July 23.
Dolly formed on July 20 from a tropical wave, which was located north of Honduras. Since it became a tropical storm right away it never became a depression while forming. Early on July 21 Dolly made landfall in the Yucatán Peninsula. The day after that it became a hurricane. Dolly moved northwest and for a little while it was a category 2 hurricane. Dolly weakened a little, back to a category 1 later that day. Very shortly after weakening Dolly made landfall in South Padre Island, Texas. Dolly died over in a very northwestern area of Texas on July 27.
Dolly killed a few people in Mexico and the United States, but in Guatemala Dolly killed at least 17 people. Damage was a little bit more than $1 billion.
A shear line stalled in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico in early August as troughing aloft dug into the northeast Gulf of Mexico. This energy aloft helped to organize a surface low along the shearline early on August 2, which slowly organized over the following day. It strengthened into Tropical Depression Five before gaining strength and being named Tropical Storm Edouard on August 3. The storm made landfall in Southeast Texas near Port Arthur on the morning of August 5 as a strong tropical storm. As it moved inland, the system weakened into a tropical depression by afternoon. The depression weakened into a remnant low on August 7 while on land over Texas.
A strong tropical wave moved into the northeastern Caribbean in mid-August. It caused heavy rain across the Leeward Islands and into Puerto Rico before tracking westward, while unable to develop a low-level circulation although it was producing tropical storm-force winds. On August 15, a closed circulation was found and the system was named Tropical Storm Fay. Later that day Fay caused heavy rains on the island of Hispaniola causing a major flash flood threat. Fay crossed Hispaniola, Cuba, and hit south Florida beginning late on August 18, slowly tracking northeastward across the peninsula. High amounts of flooding happened in much of eastern Florida, along with some wind damage. After crossing into the Atlantic, Fay turned westward again and crossed northern Florida on August 22. As it zigzagged from water to land, it became the first storm in Florida recorded history to make landfall four times. Fay weakened into a tropical depression along the north coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Fay eventually weakened into a remnant low around noon on August 26 while located over Alabama.
A disturbance formed in the deep tropical Atlantic in the fourth week of August. It tracked westward into the Caribbean Sea where it encountered better conditions for cyclone development, and became a tropical depression on the morning of August 25, west of the Windward Islands. It quickly strengthened into Tropical Storm Gustav early that afternoon and into Hurricane Gustav early on August 26. It then weakened into a tropical storm on the evening of August 27. It re-organized further south into a strong tropical storm once again on August 28 before speeding up and hitting Jamaica. Gustav has killed 78 people in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, while 7 are still missing in Haiti. On August 29, it strengthened back into a hurricane. On the morning of August 30, it was upgraded to a Category 3 major hurricane. After strengthening slowed for a few hours, another round of quick strengthening happened and Gustav was upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane during a hurricane hunter flight around 1pm (EDT), with 145 mph winds. Continuing to intensify, it became a 150 mph storm that afternoon near 5 P.M. EDT. Soon after Gustav made landfall in Cuba, firstly on the island of Isla de la Juventud and later on the mainland near Los Palacios in Pinar del Río Province, causing severe damage, although it is difficult to predict how much damage it caused. It then emerged into the Gulf of Mexico weakening into a minimal 115 mph. It was expected to hit Louisiana so the mayor of New Orleans evacuated the city. At 8 a.m. CDT on the 2nd September it was reported to have weakened to category 2.
Hurricane Gustav made landfall in Louisiana on September 1, and quickly weakened over land. After weakening to a tropical depression September 4, Gustav was sucked into a cold front. Gustav was responsible for 138 deaths and up to $18 billion in damage.
Tropical Depression Eight formed on August 28 from a low pressure area east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands. It was upgraded to a tropical storm later that day and named Hanna. On September 1, while Hanna was moving very near to the island of Mayaguana in the Bahamas, it was upgraded to Category 1 hurricane status. Hanna wandered around the southeastern Bahamas, weakening to a tropical storm while also dumping heavy rain on already-devastated Haiti. Hanna moved rapidly northeastwards along the east coast of the United States as a tropical storm. Hanna changed into an extratropical cyclone as it moved offshore from Massachusetts early on September 7. At least 537 deaths have been blamed on Hanna, most in Haiti.