A cold front moved off the East Coast of the United States on July 16 and stalled off the coast of North Carolina. It slowly decayed into a surface low pressure trough, and developed into two disturbances; one was centered 290 miles (490 km) south-southeast of Cape Cod and another was located 200 miles (320 km) south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The first low quickly organized into an unnamed tropical storm, and the other area stayed broad and disorganized. However, by July 18, the system became much better organized with improved banding features, and the area developed into Tropical Depression Two while located 220 miles (355 km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras.