 Throughout May 1972 , a series of weak troughs moved across the eastern United States . In the third week of the month , an upper @-@ level <unk> low developed along one of these troughs , located southeast of the United States and removed from the <unk> . The origins of Alpha were from a surface low northeast of Florida , associated with the larger @-@ scale , cold core upper low . It organized , and late on May 23 it could be classified as a subtropical depression , east of the Georgia / South Carolina border . While southeast of Hatteras , North Carolina , a developing ridge blocked its northeast motion , and so it slowed to turn to the southeast . On May 25 , a small , intense low @-@ level center organized rapidly , and by the next day it attained gale force winds , by which time the storm turned southwestward . At 1600 UTC on May 26 , the National Hurricane Center initiated advisories on Subtropical Cyclone Alpha , when the storm was about 225 miles south of Cape Hatteras . Around that time , it reached its peak winds of 70 mph ( 110 km / h ) . 
