Subtropical Storm Alpha (also called Alfa) was an
off-season
In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...
subtropical cyclone
A subtropical cyclone is a weather system that has some characteristics of both tropical and an extratropical cyclone.
As early as the 1950s, meteorologists were uncertain whether they should be characterized as tropical or extratropical cyclo ...
that hit
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to t ...
in May 1972. It developed from a previously non-tropical cyclone in the western Atlantic Ocean, and initially it moved northeastward off the Carolinas. The storm turned southwestward due to a building ridge, and concurrently it intensified to become Subtropical Storm Alpha. It later moved ashore near
Savannah
A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
, and it finally dissipated in the northeast Gulf of Mexico on May 29. It produced wave action and moderate rainfall along the coast. Damage totaled over $100,000 (1972
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
), and there were two associated deaths.
Meteorological history
Throughout May 1972, a series of weak troughs moved across the eastern United States. In the third week of the month, an upper-level cutoff low developed along one of these troughs, located southeast of the United States and removed from the
Westerlies
The westerlies, anti-trades, or prevailing westerlies, are prevailing winds from the west toward the east in the middle latitudes between 30 and 60 degrees latitude. They originate from the high-pressure areas in the horse latitudes and trend t ...
. The origins of Alpha were from a surf