Originating from an area of disturbed weather near the Caroline Islands on 9 November, Forrest was classified as a tropical depression three days later over the South China Sea.

Tracking generally west, the system steadily organized into a tropical storm, passing Vietnam to the south, before striking Thailand along the Malay Peninsula on 15 November.

Forrest made landfall in northwestern Myanmar as a weakening system on 21 November before dissipating early the next day.

[3] On 20 November, as Forrest reached its peak intensity, fears arose across Bangladesh that a repeat of the catastrophic April 1991 cyclone would take place.

But the storm abruptly turned eastward, and the successful evacuation of 600,000 residents spared countless lives.