WASHINGTON, July 7, 2008 (AFP) - The first hurricane of the 2008 season formed in the center of the Atlantic Ocean and quickly gained strength Monday, but it was too early to forecast if it will make landfall, the National Hurricane Center said. Bertha, as the storm was named, went in just a few hours from a Category One -- winds of 120 kilomters (75 miles) per hour -- to a Category Three storm, packing maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers (115 miles) per hour. It was churning 1,175 kilometers (730 miles) northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands in the Caribbean and slowly moving west-northwest at 19 kilometers (12 miles) per hour, the NHC said. "It is still too early to determine if Bertha will eventually affect any land areas," the center said in a statement.
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