Frances moved slowly, between , as it crossed the warm Gulf Stream between the Bahamas and Florida, leading to the concern that it could restrengthen. However, Frances remained stable at Category 2 intensity with maximum sustained winds while it battered the east coast of Florida between Fort Pierce and West Palm Beach for much of September 4. At 11 pm, the western edge of the eyewall began moving onshore. Because of its large eye, which was roughly across, and its slow forward motion, the center of circulation remained offshore for several more hours. At 1 am EDT on September 5 (0500 UTC), the center of the broad eye of Frances made landfall along the Florida coast, at the southern end of Hutchinson Island, near Sewall's Point, Jensen Beach, and Port Salerno, Florida. Late on September 5, Frances picked up speed due to a strengthening high pressure system to its north and crossed the Florida Peninsula, emerging over the Gulf of Mexico near Tampa as a tropical storm. After a short trip over the Gulf of Mexico, Frances made a second landfall near St. Marks, Florida. Frances headed inland, weakening to a tropical depression and causing heavy rainfall over the southern and eastern United States. As Tropical Depression Frances turned northeast, United States meteorologists at the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center continued issuing advisories on the system until it crossed the Canada–United States border into Quebec, where heavy rainfall also fell.