 Developing as a tropical depression near Nassau in the Bahamas on September 12 , Felice had its origins in a persistent upper @-@ level trough over the area . The nascent depression tracked slowly toward the west @-@ southwest without much intensification , ultimately passing just north of Key West , Florida as it entered the Gulf of Mexico . Over the open waters of the Gulf , the system accelerated toward the west @-@ northwest along the southern periphery of a large ridge of high pressure to the north . While reconnaissance aircraft data on the storm suggested that the depression strengthened into a tropical storm midday on September 14 , the official Atlantic tropical cyclone database known as HURDAT indicates the disturbance attained tropical storm status at 0000 UTC on September 15 . 
