was forming in the northwest Gulf of Mexico, which was furthered by reports of wind gusts as high as just a few hundred feet above the surface, towards the east side of the system. At 1200 UTC on June 5, the disturbance developed a broad, low-level circulation, and was classified as Tropical Storm Allison, the first storm of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. Some intensification was projected, though it was expected to be hindered by cool offshore sea surface temperatures. Due to the cold-core nature of the center, Allison initially contained subtropical characteristics. Despite this, the storm quickly strengthened to attain peak sustained winds of , with tropical storm-force winds extending up to east of the center, and a minimum central pressure of . The storm initially moved very little, and the presence of several small vortices from within the deep convection caused difficulty in determining the exact center location. Later in the day, several different track forecasts arose. One scenario had the cyclone tracking westward into Mexico. Another projected the storm moving east towards southern Louisiana. At the time, it was noted that little rain or wind persisted near the center, but rather to the north and east. Under the steering currents of a subtropical ridge that extended in an east–west orientation across the southeast United States, Allison weakened while nearing the Texas coastline, and struck near Freeport, Texas with winds. Inland, the storm rapidly weakened, and the National Hurricane Center discontinued advisories early on June 6. Shortly after being downgraded to a tropical depression, surface observations showed an elongated circulation with a poorly defined center, which had reformed closer to the deep convection. The depression drifted northward until reaching Lufkin, Texas, where it stalled due to a high pressure system to its north. While stalling over Texas, the storm dropped excessive rainfall, peaking at just over in northwestern Jefferson County. On June 7, the subtropical ridge off Florida weakened, while the ridge west of Texas intensified. This steered Tropical Depression Allison to make a clockwise loop, and the storm began drifting to the southwest. As the center reached Huntsville, Texas, a heavy rain band began to back build from Louisiana westward into Liberty County, Texas, which had caused additional flooding. At the time, the system had a minimum central pressure of about and maximum sustained winds of about . Late on June 9 and early on June 10,