Harvey officially made landfall at 03:00 UTC on August 26 on the northern end of San José Island, 6 mi (9 km) east of Rockport, Texas, at its peak strength.
This made Harvey the first storm to strike the United States at Category 3 intensity or higher since Hurricane Wilma in 2005, the strongest in terms of wind speed to hit the country since Charley in 2004, and the first hurricane to strike Texas since Ike in 2008.
Harvey also became the first major hurricane in the state since Bret in 1999, as well as the strongest in Texas since Carla in 1961.
A storm surge of 6–10 ft (1.8–3.0 m) was recorded between Port Aransas and Matagorda.
Weakening began as the eye of Harvey moved further inland, and Harvey made a subsequent landfall on the northeastern shore of Copano Bay at 06:00 UTC with slightly lower winds of 125 mph (205 km/h).
The weakening process accelerated as it slowly progressed northwest, with Harvey falling to minimal hurricane strength by 15:00 UTC as the central inner core collapsed and the eye disappeared from visible satellite imagery.
Harvey's movement slowed to a crawl as the cyclone became trapped between two ridges to its east and west, which generated light steering currents that prevented any fast movement.
Later that day, Harvey weakened to a tropical storm as the central convection continued to warm.
As Harvey barely moved and continued dropping rain, catastrophic and record-breaking flooding occurred in the southeastern portion of the Lone Star state.
During this time, a total of 52 tornadoes were produced, half of which occurred within or near Greater Houston.
The strongest was rated EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which touched down near Evangeline, Louisiana on the evening of August 29.
All of the other tornadoes were ranked at EF0 or EF1 intensity.

By late on August 27, the cyclone completed an anticyclonic loop and began a slow southeastward drift towards the Gulf of Mexico; at this time Harvey was only a minimal tropical storm.
Deep convection formed repeatedly in Harvey's right semicircle as it had remained over water, which likely helped the system to sustain tropical-storm-force winds despite being centered over land.
Still moving slowly, Harvey emerged back over water into Matagorda Bay late on August 28.
Once back over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, deep convection blossomed well to the north of the center of the tropical storm, which led to slight strengthening.
The center of the storm continued to drift to the east-southeast into the early hours of August 29, but never strayed more than 70 mi (110 km) away from the Texan coast.
Convection blossomed again later that day, with the center jumping northwards into the convection as Harvey began moving to the northeast.
Consequently, Harvey's winds reached a third and final peak of 50 mph (85 km/h) at 18:00 UTC.
As a ridge built over the western Atlantic, Harvey began to be steered north-northeastwards back towards the United States coast.
Strong vertical wind shear weakened the storm somewhat as it approached the coast of Louisiana, though the central pressure continued to fall to around 990 mbar (hPa; 29.23 inHg).
Harvey officially made landfall at 03:00 UTC on August 26 on the northern end of San José Island, 6 mi (9 km) east of Rockport, Texas, at its peak strength. This made Harvey the first storm to strike the United States at Category 3 intensity or higher since Hurricane Wilma in 2005, the strongest in terms of wind speed to hit the country since Charley in 2004, and the first hurricane to strike Texas since Ike in 2008. Harvey also became the first major hurricane in the state since Bret in 1999, as well as the strongest in Texas since Carla in 1961. A storm surge of 6–10 ft (1.8–3.0 m) was recorded between Port Aransas and Matagorda. Weakening began as the eye of Harvey moved further inland, and Harvey made a subsequent landfall on the northeastern shore of Copano Bay at 06:00 UTC with slightly lower winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). The weakening process accelerated as it slowly progressed northwest, with Harvey falling to minimal hurricane strength by 15:00 UTC as the central inner core collapsed and the eye disappeared from visible satellite imagery. Harvey's movement slowed to a crawl as the cyclone became trapped between two ridges to its east and west, which generated light steering currents that prevented any fast movement. Later that day, Harvey weakened to a tropical storm as the central convection continued to warm. As Harvey barely moved and continued dropping rain, catastrophic and record-breaking flooding occurred in the southeastern portion of the Lone Star state. During this time, a total of 52 tornadoes were produced, half of which occurred within or near Greater Houston. The strongest was rated EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which touched down near Evangeline, Louisiana on the evening of August 29. All of the other tornadoes were ranked at EF0 or EF1 intensity.
By late on August 27, the cyclone completed an anticyclonic loop and began a slow southeastward drift towards the Gulf of Mexico; at this time Harvey was only a minimal tropical storm. Deep convection formed repeatedly in Harvey's right semicircle as it had remained over water, which likely helped the system to sustain tropical-storm-force winds despite being centered over land. Still moving slowly, Harvey emerged back over water into Matagorda Bay late on August 28. Once back over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, deep convection blossomed well to the north of the center of the tropical storm, which led to slight strengthening. The center of the storm continued to drift to the east-southeast into the early hours of August 29, but never strayed more than 70 mi (110 km) away from the Texan coast. Convection blossomed again later that day, with the center jumping northwards into the convection as Harvey began moving to the northeast. Consequently, Harvey's winds reached a third and final peak of 50 mph (85 km/h) at 18:00 UTC. As a ridge built over the western Atlantic, Harvey began to be steered north-northeastwards back towards the United States coast. Strong vertical wind shear weakened the storm somewhat as it approached the coast of Louisiana, though the central pressure continued to fall to around 990 mbar (hPa; 29.23 inHg).
Meteorological history of Hurricane Harvey