Meteorological History
In the first few days of September 2002, an upper-level trough emerged in the Gulf of Mexico and stalled. Thunderstorms developed along the trough and concentrated around a weak low pressure system. Gradually, the trough and associated low pressure drifted south into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A low pressure area in the northwest Gulf of Mexico became the dominant circulation and slowly developed persistent convection near the center. On September 5, a reconnaissance aircraft investigated the system. During the flight, a low-level center became evident and some deep convection persisted; as a result, it was classified as a tropical depression. Wind shear within the Gulf of Mexico was weak and remained favorable to tropical cyclone formation. A reconnaissance flight later that day discovered an ill-defined circulation which led to low confidence of the location of the center of circulation. However, enough convection persisted for the depression to be upgraded into Tropical Storm Fay that evening.
Stationary in movement, the associated convection became removed from the center of circulation; despite this, the system gradually intensified. On September 6, the storm reached its peak intensity of 60 mph (100 km/h). Light wind shear prevented Fay from intensifying further, and the gradual movement was dictated by a weak mid-level ridge to the north. A low pressure system to the south of Fay produced wind shear and resulted in decreased convection on the southern half of the circulation, with the majority of convective activity located on the northern half. Fay soon became disorganized which prompted National Hurricane Center forecaster Avila to state, " rather resembles a subtropical storm". Fay moved little, and intensified slightly late on September 6.
On September 7, Fay began to drift northwest towards the Texas coast as rainbands reached the northwest portion of the Texas coastline. Fay accelerated towards the Texas coast and made landfall early on September 7. The storm meandered throughout inland Texas, and as the system moved inland, forward speed decreased and Fay weakened to a tropical depression. The last advisory was issued on Fay on September 7, although the depression persisted for several days just inland of the Texas Coast.
Read more about this topic: Tropical Storm Fay (2002)
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