Passage, maintaining a broad circulation with well-defined banding and an eye-like feature. Little change occurred during the day; the storm made its fifth landfall near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with winds of . The storm began to take a more northwesterly track in response to a mid- to upper-level high-pressure area to the northeast and a mid- to upper-level low over the Yucatán Peninsula. Throughout its passage across Cuba, Georges maintained a well-defined outflow pattern despite having an ill-defined center. By September 24, the storm moved over water north of Cuba, and the eyewall quickly began to redevelop. Gulf of Mexico and dissipation As the hurricane neared the Florida Keys on September 25, its eye reformed and became more pronounced on satellite imagery. The reorganization led to an increase in intensity, and at about 1530 UTC, Georges made landfall near Key West with winds of . The hurricane's forward motion shifted to west-northwest, and forecast models indicated that Georges would re-attain Category 3 status before making landfall along the northern Gulf Coast. The slow motion of the storm led to an erratic track, mainly caused by westward wobbles of the eye. Vertical wind shear was estimated at up to , restricting outflow within the hurricane and confining the most intense convection to the eastern side of the circulation. Between September 26 and 27, the storm continued to slow while turning northwestward. Its wind field became asymmetric during the afternoon of September 26, with hurricane-force winds present only in the eastern side. Later in the day, winds around the center increased to , just short of major hurricane status. The possibility of rapid intensification at the time was low. The central barometric pressure continued to decrease through September 28, bottoming out at 961 mbar (hPa; ). By that time, the storm had become visible on New Orleans, Louisiana, radar imagery, which depicted an incomplete eyewall. The storm continued to slow as it neared its final landfall, and winds around the eyewall slightly decreased. Around 1130 UTC, Georges made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi with winds of . Several hours after moving ashore, Georges weakened to Category 1 status and became quasi-stationary. The storm's slow movement led to extreme amounts of rainfall throughout the southeastern United States, peaking at in Munson, Florida. By September 29, Georges had weakened to a tropical storm and completed a small counter-clockwise loop over southern Mississippi. Subsequently, the storm