Meteorological History
A tropical wave developed scattered convection in the central Caribbean Sea on June 24, while interacting with an upper-level low. It moved slowly northwestward, and remained disorganized due to strong upper level wind shear. Late on June 27, the convection became slightly better organized around a broad low pressure area, though land interaction prevented further development as it moved towards the Yucatán Peninsula. The area of low pressure became better defined over the central Yucatán Peninsula, and after the system turned to the northwest, convection quickly organized while located over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. On June 29, following the development of a closed circulation, the system organized into Tropical Depression Three while located about 40 miles (60 km) north of Progreso, Yucatán.
The depression quickly strengthened to become Tropical Storm Bill later on June 29. Operationally, the National Hurricane Center did not begin issuing advisories until it attained tropical storm status. Initially, the system resembled a subtropical cyclone, with the strongest winds and deep convection located far from the center, though it was classified tropical due to its tropical origins. The storm steadily intensified as wind shear decreased, and early forecasts from the National Hurricane Center mentioned the possibility of Bill intensifying to hurricane status if the low level circulation organized beneath the area of deepest convection. Bill turned to the north-northwest, and later to the north, as it moved around the periphery of a ridge of high pressure. On June 30, Tropical Storm Bill reached a peak intensity of 60 mph (95 km/h), one hour before making landfall in southwestern Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. It moved onshore at peak intensity, and quickly weakened to a depression over land as it accelerated to the northeast. Bill remained a tropical cyclone as it moved through the southeast United States, until it became attached to an approaching cold front on July 2 near the Tennessee/Virginia border. The remnant extratropical storm was absorbed by the cold front on July 3 near central Virginia, while the remnant low pressure area continued northeastward until reaching the Atlantic Ocean later on July 3.
Read more about this topic: Tropical Storm Bill (2003)
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“A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.”
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