Moving with little development despite favorable conditions, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) started advisories on it as Potential Tropical Cyclone Two late on June 27, due to its imminent threat to land.

The disturbance finally organized into Tropical Storm Bonnie at 13:15 UTC on July 1, and made brief landfalls on the Costa Rica–Nicaragua border with winds of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h).

[7] Around this time, NOAA Hurricane Hunters reconnaissance aircraft found an area of tropical storm-force winds, despite not finding a closed circulation.

[8] As it crossed the Windward Islands on the morning of June 29, the disturbance appeared like a tropical cyclone on conventional satellite data, displaying large bursts of convection near the center and prominent rainbands, speeding westward at 23 knots (26 mph; 43 km/h).

[9] The disturbance then moved along the ABC Islands and northern coast of South America, producing heavy rainfall throughout the region from spiral rainbands.

During and after this, the mid-levels of the disturbance became better defined,[11] deep convection associated with the system persisted,[12] and Air Force Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance data confirmed that the circulation had become well-defined.

[29][30] Shortly afterward, Bonnie's cloud pattern deteriorated and its eye started to become less defined, causing the cyclone to weaken to a Category 2 strength by 03:00 UTC on July 6.

[34][35] The circulation center became embedded with a small central dense overcast to the north early on July 8, marking Bonnie's degradation to a tropical storm.

[41] Several domestic flights to and from the United States, Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, St. Maarten, and Curaçao by carrier Caribbean Airlines were cancelled or delayed.

[44] Trinidad and Tobago was left with mostly minimal damage from the potential tropical cyclone, with some areas receiving heavy rainfall and flash flooding.

[45] On the island of Tobago, emergency agencies received two reports of roof damage, four of downed trees, one of a vehicle accident, and a collapsed home.

[49] Hurricane Bonnie, as a Category 3 system, prompted Mexican authorities to issue warnings of heavy rainfall to the states of Colima, Guerrero, Jalisco, and Michoacán as it advanced inland.

[51] Bonnie weakened to a Category 1 hurricane and was expected to become a tropical storm after going north, off the coasts of Cabo San Lucas, in the state of Baja California Sur.