By January 17, the system had developed enough organized convection as it moved southwestward to be declared a tropical depression.

Hours after reaching hits strength, the storm bypassed Rodrigues Island about 150 km (95 mi) to its north.

On January 21, the storm brushed Mauritius and Réunion as an intense tropical cyclone before turning southward.

Once on a southward course, steady weakening ensued and the system eventually transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on January 25.

Across Mauritius and Réunion, torrential rains and destructive winds from the cyclone resulted in extensive to "catastrophic" damage.

Record to near-record flooding destroyed many homes, washed out roads, and caused catastrophic agricultural damage.

On January 15, a tropical disturbance began organizing near the Chagos Archipelago in the South Indian Ocean convergence zone, which is an extended area of convection connected to the monsoon.

The thunderstorms were primarily located along the western periphery due to continued shear, and ordinarily would prevent significant development.

The system moved to the southwest along the north side of a ridge, and despite the shear it developed into a tropical disturbance late on January 16.

[3] Shortly thereafter, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert,[2] and later that day initiated advisories about 425 km (265 mi) south of Diego Garcia.

[4] Dina quickly intensified, and its T-numbers using the Dvorak technique increased by 0.5 every six hours during the storm's development phase.

[4] The small eye of Dina, only 20 km (10 mi) in diameter,[1] quickly became well-defined,[4] although it became obscured by the central dense overcast on visible satellite imagery.

[2] The intensification rate briefly slowed, before Dina rapidly intensified late on January 19,[1] becoming an intense tropical cyclone early the next day.

[3] Surrounded by an eyewall of deep convection, Dina intensified to reach its peak intensity on January 20.

Additionally, Doppler weather radar showed the highest reflectivity values to be 40 to 60 km (25 to 37 mi) from the center.

[6] On January 23, Dina weakened below intense tropical cyclone status while it accelerated to the southwest;[3] the change in movement was due to the ridge moving further to the southeast.

Increased wind shear due to an approaching trough contributed to the weakening, and by late on January 23 the eye dissipated.

[1] Late on January 24, the JTWC discontinued advisories,[2] and about 24 hours later, MFR classified Dina as an extratropical cyclone.

[1] Less than a day prior to Cyclone Dina's arrival in Mauritius, officials in the nation closed schools, government offices, businesses, and ports.

[11] Power and communications across Rodrigues and the island of Mauritius were crippled by the storm, with the entirety of the former and 90 percent of the latter losing electricity.

[15] Owing to the effects of Cyclone Dina and several other meteorological factors, the economy of Mauritius suffered significantly in 2002 as a whole.

[1] These winds caused extensive damage, crippling communications, devastating infrastructure, and left more than 160,000 families,[17][18] about 70 percent of the island's population, without power.

[19] Heavy rains produced by Dina triggered flash flooding and many landslides, further crippling travel and forcing at least 2,500 people to seek refuge in public shelters.

[20] Heavy rains occurred in the typically dry western portion of the island, which resulted in significant flooding.

[20] In the wake of Cyclone Dina's devastation on January 23, then French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin ordered a relief team of 200 personnel to be dispatched to the island.