Tropical Storm Fay was the sixth named storm of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season; it was a moderate tropical storm which caused flooding in parts of Texas and Mexico. In early September, a trough of low pressure moved south into the Gulf of Mexico, and became stationary. A low pressure center developed along this trough, and on September 5, a Hurricane Hunter airplane reported that the system had gained sufficient organization to be a tropical depression, 95 miles (153 km) southeast of Galveston. The depression drifted south-southwest while strengthening, reaching its peak strength of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h) on the morning of September 6. The system then made an abrupt turn to the west-northwest, and remained steady in strength and course until landfall the next day, near Matagorda.