Tropical Storm Bill

Mexico–Gulf of Mexico– Southern United States, June 28–July 3, 2003 

The second named tropical cyclone of the 2003 North Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Bill delivered high winds and heavy rains to sections of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, and to southeastern Louisiana, between June 28 and July 3, 2003. Of tropical depression intensity as it crossed to the north-northwest over the Yucatán Peninsula on June 28, Bill entered the southern Gulf of Mexico and intensified to tropical storm status on June 29.

Recurving to the northeast a day later, Bill came ashore in Louisiana, near the mouths of the Mississippi River, on June 30, bearing a central barometric pressure of 29.44 inches (997 mb) and sustained winds of 58 MPH (93 km/h). On July 1, a tornado generated by Bill’s constituent thunderstorms touched down near New Orleans, while another weak tornadic outbreak was observed in Plaquemines Parish. The system remained at tropical storm intensity as it tracked across the southeastern communities of Louisiana, then entered Mississippi, where it was downgraded to a tropical depression.

Tropical Depression Bill remained fairly intact as it moved across Alabama, the northwestern tip of Georgia, and into Tennessee and Virginia, where it finally dissipated on July 3, 2003. The identifier Bill has been retained on the North Atlantic tropical cyclone naming lists. It is scheduled to be reused during the 2009 hurricane season.