On September 7, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Fern; it is rare for a tropical depression to move over land in the continental United States (excluding Florida) and later attain tropical storm status. Fern later turned to the northwest, intensifying into a hurricane on September 8. It quickly reached peak winds of 90 mph (140 km/h), but later weakened as it curved to the southwest, moving ashore on September 10 between Freeport and Matagorda, Texas as a tropical storm.