At 5 pm EDT on Thursday, Bertha was centred about 169 kilometers southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands.

Forecasters say the storm is causing squally weather across those islands.

The second named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season is moving toward the west-northwest at about 19 kph, and forecasters expect that to continue for the next couple of days.

Maximum sustained winds are near 64 kph. Some gradual strengthening was forecast during the next day or two.

It's still too early to say if or where Bertha will hit land.

The first named storm this year, Arthur, formed in the Atlantic the day before the season officially started June 1 and soaked the Yucatan Peninsula. -- AP