page_title: Tropical Storm Erin (2007)
section_title: Storm history
hierarchical_section_title: Tropical Storm Erin (2007) / Storm history
caption_attribution_description: Tropical Depression Erin passing through Oklahoma on August 19, 2007, as seen from NOAA WSR-88D radar in Oklahoma City. At this stage the dissipating Erin showed a feature more common to hurricanes, an "eye".
context_page_description: Tropical Storm Erin was the second tropical cyclone to make landfall on the United States in the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It was also the fifth named storm of the season. Erin formed in the Gulf of Mexico on August 14 from an area of convection which was becoming stronger. It became stronger and changed into a tropical storm the next day, and on August 16 Erin made landfall near Lamar, Texas and was able to not die as it moved over land across Texas before moving towards the north into Oklahoma. The storm killed at least 17 people and made an already-severe flooding problem in Texas even worse. Another different storm that Erin went into killed at least 18 people.
context_section_description: On August 9, an area of convection formed just south of Jamaica in association with a trough of low pressure.  The system moved west-northwestward, and by August 10, the system had a broad surface trough with a little shower activity.  Convection increased on August 11, and by August 12 the contact between a tropical wave and an upper-level low in the area resulted in a large area of disorganized thunderstorms extending from the western Caribbean Sea into the central Bahamas.  Upper-level winds slowly became more helpful for development, and on August 13 a large low pressure area formed about 90 miles (145 km) north-northeast of Cancún, Quintana Roo.  Late on August 14, a NOAA Hurricane Hunters plane that flew into the system reported a small circulation center, but at the time was not well-defined enough to begin tropical cyclone advisories. However, deep convection was kept near the increasingly organizaing center, and at 0300 UTC on August 15 the National Hurricane Center named it as Tropical Depression Five about 425 miles (685 km) southeast of Brownsville, Texas.
  In the overnight hours after formation, the storm was disorganized with a shabby and abstracted center of circulation. Located to the south of a mid to upper-level ridge over the southern United States, the system moved to the west-northwest into an area ideal for further strengthening; an upper-level anticyclone formed over the central Gulf of Mexico, and sea surface temperatures along its track were warm.  The cloud pattern became better organized, keeping a large area of convection with curved rainbands and well-established outflow.  Based on reports from Hurricane Hunters, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Erin at 1530 UTC on August 13 about 250 miles (400 km) east of Brownsville, Texas.  As it continued northwestward, Erin remained disorganized and was not able to strengthen above minimal tropical storm status.  At 1200 UTC on August 16 the cyclone made landfall near Lamar, Texas as it weakened to tropical depression status.  Three hours later, the National Hurricane Center stopped giving out advisories on Erin as warning responsibility was switched to the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center.
  Slowly moving northwestward through Texas, Tropical Depression Erin managed to keep an area of convection near the center, with its widespread, but scattered rainbands dropping moderate to heavy precipitation. By August 17, the winds decreased to 20 mph (30 km/h), with higher gusts. The system turned to the north-northeast on August 18, while heavy bands of thunderstorms continued to spin around the center of Erin.  Early on August 19 after entering Oklahoma, Erin suddenly re-intensified to maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) a short distance west of Oklahoma City.  The Norman, Oklahoma National Weather Service remarked the intensification "[resulted] in what amounts to an inland tropical storm;" at 0930 UTC the system showed an eye-like feature and a spiral rainband, and produced wind gusts of over 80 mph (130 km/h).  However, a few hours later, the system began weakening again, and late on August 19 Erin degenerated into a remnant low pressure area as the circulation dissipated over northeastern Oklahoma. The low continued into southeastern Kansas before dissipating, feeding moisture northward toward a frontal system extending from the Midwestern United States through the Mid-Atlantic States.  Its remnant mid-level circulation then moved eastward across Missouri, Kentucky, and Virginia before losing identity as it moved out into the Atlantic Ocean.
caption: Tropical Depression Erin over central Oklahoma, with what appears to be an eye-like structure.
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