I personally believe the only reason Pasch and Berg kept it as a tropical depression is because tropical storm warnings were in place. If warnings had not been previously issued I bet they would have downgraded it to a tropical wave. Because I agree with Fact and KWT that the data does not support a well organized surface circulation and therefore would not meet the criteria for a tropical cyclone. If a organized surface circulation could be found then it would have been upgraded to a tropical storm. And that is what I interpreted Pasch's discussion when he said recon reports indicate winds to near tropical storm force in squalls, but prior to that he stated the system was extremely disorganized. So, Fact and KWT I agree completely this is either a "wave," or a tropical storm. But downgrading it to a wave and keeping warnings up wouldn't make sense, and upgrading to a tropical storm without having a more organized center of circulation wouldn't make sense either. So, all in all, Pasch and Berg made the right decision in my humble opinion to keep it status quo... Things can change so quickly in the tropics, that's what makes them so exciting! At the same time, Stewart and Cangialosi in my opinion made the right call last night and upgrading to a depression and issuing tropical storm warnings since it was going to be coming ashore so quickly and a definite circulation existed based on the NOAA reports last evening. I think the NHC did a great job! Now, I am frustrated a bit that we didn't get Bonnie out of this because my personal opinion is that this system probably reached that intensity based on the recon reports and the radar display from Brownsville, but the circulation was probably better defined a few thousand feet above the surface than it was at the surface. 02L will be another asterisk in my journal of the 2010 hurricane season...
