tropical depression formed about west of Bolama, Guinea-Bissau, on October 5. The depression moved generally westward, before curving to the northwest on October 8. Five days later, it turned northward while well northeast of the Lesser Antilles. By October 14, the system began moving north-northeast. The depression dissipated about east-northeast of Bermuda on the following day. Yet another tropical depression formed about 445 mi (715 km) southwest of Brava, Cape Verde, on October 16. Initially the depression moved generally west-northwestward and dissipated about halfway between Barbados and Cape Verde. Storm names The following names were used for named storms that formed in the North Atlantic in 1972. Names that were not assigned are marked in . Storms were named Agnes, Betty and Dawn for the first time in 1972. The name Agnes was later retired. Subtropical storm names The following names were used for subtropical storms (sometimes called neutercanes) in the Atlantic basin for this year. This year was the first year to use the NATO phonetic alphabet for these storms. Names that were not assigned are marked in . *Same system. Season effects This is a table of the storms in 1972 and their landfall(s), if any. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but are still storm-related. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical or a wave or low. |- | Alpha || || bgcolor=#| || || || Southeastern United States || || || |- | Agnes || || bgcolor=#| || || || Yucatán Peninsula, western Cuba, Eastern United States, Canada || || || |- | Unnumbered || || bgcolor=#| || || Unknown || || || || |- | Unnumbered || || bgcolor=#| || || Unknown || North Carolina || || || |- | Unnumbered || || bgcolor=#| || || Unknown || || || || |- | Unnumbered || || bgcolor=#| || || Unknown || || || || |- | Unnumbered || || bgcolor=#| || || Unknown || Senegal || || || |- | Unnumbered || || bgcolor=#| || || Unknown || || || || |- | Unnumbered || || bgcolor=#| || || Unknown || Cape Verde Islands || || || |- | Betty (Bravo) || || bgcolor=#| || || || || || || |- | Carrie || || bgcolor=#| || || || Northeastern United States || || || |- | Unnumbered || ||