Alex began as a weak tropical disturbance in the Cape Verde Islands on May 7. Bringing heavy rains, gusts and swells up to 5 feet, the tropical disturbance was upgraded to an invest and as the invest accelerated towards the Leeward Islands, the Hurricane Hunters investigated the system and declared it Tropical Depression One-W, 6 hours later, it was declared Tropical Storm Alex and entered a more favorable environment, went into a phase of explosive intensification and just 24 hours later, the wind speeds doubled and had an eye, upgrading it again to a hurricane, continuing it's rapid intensification and winds went from 80mph to 110mph in just 18 hours, and pressures went down from 976mb to 936mb in the same time frame. The first interaction with the United States was when the outer bands