making landfall in Nevis around 23:30 UTC. Eventually, Laura became slightly better organized and it strengthened a little as it passed south of Puerto Rico, although its center remained elongated. During the afternoon of August 22, a strong mesocyclone within the storm's broader circulation impacted Puerto Rico; sustained winds associated with this feature reached in Las Marías, although this was not representative of the storm's actual intensity. Laura then made landfall near San Pedro de Macorís, Dominican Republic at around 04:30 UTC on August 23 with 1-minute sustained winds of and a pressure of 1004 mbars (29.64 inHg). Trek through the Greater Antilles Despite moving over rugged, mountainous terrain, normally an impediment to tropical cyclone organization, the large size of Laura as well as its lack of inner core allowed it to maintain most of its intensity as it moved over Hispaniola and the overall structure of the storm actually improved with expanding upper-level outflow and intense convection over the Barahona Peninsula. Continuing to move west-northwestward around the southern side of the Bermuda High building westward over the Southeastern U.S., Laura moved back over water in the Windward Passage and strengthened some before making landfall in Eastern Cuba with winds and a 1000 mbar (29.53 inHg) pressure at 02:00 UTC on August 24. However, most of its convection was located south of the center due to wind shear. Continuing to trek west-northwestward, Laura moved back over the Caribbean Sea just south of the coast of Cuba after being over land for six hours. A period of dry air entertainment coupled with the continued effects of moderate northerly shear and land interaction briefly degraded and weakened the storm to as it struggled to remain organized throughout August 24 due to the lack of a defined inner-core with the most intense accompanying convection in a prominent band south of the circulation center. However, this turned out to be short-lived as Laura reorganized and restrengthened over the warm waters of the Caribbean before making landfall on the western tip of Cuba in Pinar del Rio province at around 00:00 UTC on August 25. At the time, it had winds and a 998 mbar (29.47 inch) pressure. Gulf of Mexico, rapid intensification and landfall After clearing Cuba, Laura quickly began to gain more organization as it moved west-northwestward into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico at a slightly slower speed. The organization