On 30 July 2012 the National Hurricane Centre released its first weather outlook on a tropical wave system which had formed off of the coast of Africa 3 days earlier and now appeared to be well defined. Convection in this system became better organised and at approximately 2100 UTC on 1 August it intensified to form the fifth Tropical Depression of the year situated approximately 810 miles (1,305 km) east of the Lesser Antilles, moving in a WNW direction.