The origins of Dineo can be tracked back to a cluster of thunderstorms that organized into an area of low pressure in the Mozambique Channel on 11 February.

Over the next two days, the system gradually drifted in a generally southern track as it gained intensity and prompted the JTWC to issue a TCFA.

[3] On 13 February, RSMC La Réunion declared that a Tropical Disturbance had formed in the area and began issuing advisories.

It reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) and a low barometric pressure of 955 hPa (mbar); 28.20 inHg on 15 February.

[5][6] Dineo struck Mozambique on 15 February as a tropical cyclone, bringing torrential rain and damaging winds.