Frances then passed over the central sections of Florida, three weeks after Hurricane Charley, causing significant damage to the state's citrus crop, closing major airports and schools, and forcing the cancellation of a collegiate football game.

Very heavy rains fell in association with this slow-moving and relatively large hurricane, which caused floods in Florida and North Carolina.

[4] Good upper-level outflow was observed in all but the eastern quadrants as the depression continued on its path,[5] and it strengthened to tropical storm status on August 25, approximately 1,420 miles (2,290 km) east of the Lesser Antilles.

[6] The tropical storm, now named Frances, further intensified on August 26 in an environment of low vertical wind shear as its track bent to the west-northwest.

[10] The hurricane turned back to its original westward motion on August 29, as the upper trough moved away the region and the subtropical ridge strengthened to Frances's north.

[12] This weakening trend was short lived, and the storm reintensified during the afternoon of August 30, as vertical wind shear remained low.

The storm regained Category 2 hurricane intensity prior to passing over Grand Bahama Island and also slowed in forward speed due to a weakness in the subtropical ridge to its north.

[12] Frances moved slowly, between 5 and 10 miles per hour (8.0 and 16.1 km/h), 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 105 miles per hour (169 km/h) maximum sustained winds while it battered the east coast of Florida between Fort Pierce and West Palm Beach for much of September 4.

Because of its large eye, which was roughly 80 miles (130 km) across, and its slow forward motion, the center of circulation remained offshore for several more hours.

[12] 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.

Frances headed inland, weakening to a tropical depression and causing heavy rainfall over the southern and eastern United States.

[12] Early on the morning of August 31, tropical storm warnings were dropped for Antigua, Barbuda, Nevis, and St. Kitts while hurricane watches were issued for the southeast Bahamas as well as the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Governor Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency,[18] Kennedy Space Center closed down,[19] and evacuations of 500,000 people were initially ordered.

[25] Many hotel reservations from South Carolina to Florida were canceled as people, seeing the destruction caused weeks earlier by Hurricane Charley, decided to avoid the coastal areas for safety.

[28] In the Bahamas, between 13 and 17 percent of the non-native Australian pine on San Salvador Island experienced damage, primarily from snapping, though some browning from salt spray was noted.

[12] Prior to Frances weakening to a tropical storm, hurricane-force winds in Florida extended up to a width of 145 mi (235 km) from the cyclone's center.

[35] The highest recorded sustained wind speed in Florida was 85 mph (137 km/h) at the United States Army Corps of Engineers's Port Mayaca station.

[40]: 16  On the Gulf Coast, however, erosion and coastal flood specifically relating to the storm often became difficult to determine due to Charley less than a month earlier and then Ivan and Jeanne shortly after Frances.

[43] Each county of the Miami metropolitan area – Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach – reported hundreds of thousands of power outages.

Significant impacts occurred in parts of South Florida, especially Palm Beach County, where the southern eyewall of Frances crossed as it made landfall farther north.

[42] Heavy rains, including 13.56 in (344 mm) at Palm Beach International Airport, caused a large sinkhole to develop on Interstate 95, which closed the highway to traffic.

[42] Near the point of its first landfall, few structures were destroyed and ocean overwash across the barrier island was limited, though the extent of the damage far exceeded that of Hurricane Charley.

[48] In St. Lucie County, Frances destroyed the municipal marina in Fort Pierce and several hangars at the Treasure Coast International Airport.

Additionally, the storm ripped off 820 4-by-10 foot aluminum panels covering the large Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center.

The passage of tropical depression Frances into Georgia dumped up to 5 inches (130 mm) of rain onto the state and caused the closings of schools in 56 counties.

A strip of upslope-induced rainfall along the Blue Ridge escarpment produced as much as 23 inches (580 mm) of rain in some areas of western North Carolina as the warm tropical air surged up and over the mountains.

The Pigeon River flooded in Haywood County, leaving many homeless and many businesses closed, including the town hall of Canton.

[63] Kennedy Space Center did not restore its complete work force until September 13 due to relief operations, as well as a lack of gasoline, ice, and water in the area.

[73] On September 10, President Bush declared 34 counties within North Carolina a disaster area, making them eligible for US$6.5 million (2004 dollars) in public assistance.