The hurricane maintained peak intensity for twelve hours before beginning to weaken.[23] On 4 October at 21:00 UTC, Leslie weakened into a tropical storm.[24] Its structure continued to degrade, with the NHC noting that the system lacked an inner wind core.[25] Over the next few days, Leslie turned from the north to the southeast, as it encountered the southern edge of the mid-latitude westerlies.[26] It continued to gradually weaken as a result of increased wind shear, weakening to a tropical storm with winds of 85 km/h (53 mph) on 8 October, at 03:00 UTC.[27]