The eleventh named storm and sixth cyclone of the season, Kalunde formed on March 4 from an area of disturbed weather east-southeast of Diego Garcia.

That day, Météo-France (MFR) issued the first bulletin on Tropical Disturbance 14 while located 580 mi (930 km) east-southeast of Diego Garcia.

In an environment of weak to moderate wind shear, MFR upgraded the system to tropical depression status.

Later on March 4, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issued a Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert (TCFA) for the disturbance as shower activity increased, though it initially concentrated west-southwest of the atmospheric circulation.

MFR upgraded the depression to moderate tropical storm status at 0600 UTC on March 5; subsequently, the Meteorological Service of Mauritius assigned the system the name Kalunde.

On March 7, Kalunde began to undergo rapid intensification, and at 0600 UTC the MFR upgraded it to a tropical cyclone.

[1] After the formation of an eye, Kalunde continued to intensify rapidly and at 1800 UTC March 7 MFR declared the system an intense cyclone.

Simultaneously, JTWC estimated that Kalunde had attained winds of 215 km/h (135 mph) while located several hundred miles south-southwest of Diego Garcia.

[1] Subsequently, MFR remarked that the system had reached its peak wind speed of 215 km/h (135 mph), as an intense tropical cyclone.

On March 12, Kalunde passed 55 km (35 mi) away from Rodrigues, and around that time the JTWC reported winds of 100 km/h (60 mph).

At 1800 UTC on March 15, MFR declared the system extratropical, located approximately 690 mi (1,110 km) south-southeast of Rodrigues.

The agency officially stopped tracking the system at 1200 UTC the next day[1] though the storm finally dissipated on March 17.