 Operationally, the NHC believed that Maria had briefly weakened further into a tropical storm, but post-season analysis confirmed this did not occur.As Hurricane Maria moved to the northeast the official forecasts called for the storm to continue to weaken slowly but an interaction with an upper-level trough caused Maria to strengthen again.It was also predicted that the storm would rapidly become extratropical, but Maria retained tropical characteristics for 48 hours longer than some forecasts indicated.