the 5-day development chance to 50%. It then merged with another disturbance to its west and a low-pressure area formed, prompting the NHC to raise the 5-day development potential to 90%. The low continued to slowly organize with rainbands apparent and a well-defined low-level center forming. By 00:00 UTC on August 20, the low had organized enough to be designated as Tropical Depression Thirteen and advisories were initiated on the storm three hours later. At the time, it was located around east-southeast of Antigua. The Bermuda High over the Central Atlantic built westward, which in turned steered the system west-northwestward. The system would be steered around this ridge for its entire existence. Environmental conditions featured mixed signals for intensification, including low wind shear and dry air from the Saharan Air Layer. Accordingly, forecast models displayed solutions ranging from the system degrading back into a tropical wave all the way to becoming a major hurricane within the next five days. Initial aircraft reconnaissance into the system late on August 20 into August 21 revealed a poorly organized system with an ill-defined, elongated surface low. Furthermore, the system's mid-level circulation was displaced several hundred miles southeast of the assumed surface circulation. During the early part of August 21, the depression may have degenerated into a tropical wave, although the NHC continued to issue advisories on the system. The depression continued to struggle because of significant mid-level wind shear, dry air, and its fast forward motion of over . However, a Hurricane Hunters flight on August 21 observed gale-force winds and a center farther south then previously estimated. Consequently, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to a tropical storm and named it Laura at 13:05 UTC; post-storm analysis determined that the system had become a tropical storm around 12:00 UTC. This made Laura the earliest twelfth named Atlantic storm ever recorded, beating the record of Hurricane Luis of 1995 by eight days. At the time, Laura was located around east-southeast of the northern Leeward Islands and had maximum sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of . Despite being stronger, Laura remained poorly organized due to moderate wind shear as it moved over the Leeward Islands, with most of its convection and strongest winds located north and east of the center of circulation. Continuing west-northwestward with no change in strength, Laura made its first landfall in Antigua around 20:30 UTC before