At this point in the season, tropical waves are uncommon due to increasingly unfavourable conditions, making the origins of Kate "rare, but not unprecedented" as described by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in its post-season report on the storm.

By early on November 8, showers and convection became more concentrated around the area of low pressure, and there was indications that the disturbance was producing gale-force winds in squally bands that were short-lived.

Banding features began to develop along with a defined outflow pattern, and after an Air Force reconnaissance aircraft investigated the system on November 9, the depression was upgraded to Tropical Storm Kate at 15:00 UTC that day.

Kate continued to move to the west-northwest while steadily strengthening, and later made its closest approach to The Bahamas on November 9 – passing about 15 miles (24 km) from Cat Island.

By 00:00 UTC on November 11, Kate had intensified into a hurricane as it began to accelerate northeast into and become embedded into the mid-latitude westerlies, after a microwave pass revealed banding features had become more defined near the center.

The remnants of Kate continued to accelerate over the North Atlantic Ocean for another day before slowing down dramatically and turning eastwards before being absorbed by a larger cyclone on November 13.

[4] Still recovering from the destruction of Hurricane Joaquin nearly a month prior, residents were advised on November 8, before Kate had formed, to take more precautions in the event that warnings were issued.

On November 9, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) announced that they would closely monitor the progress of the tropical storm, after a Level II Activation code was put into effect.

[10] One of the airline services in the Bahamas, Bahamasair, later stated that a flight from Nassau to San Salvador would be delayed by day to early on November 10 due to the weather conditions.

[10] That same day, public schools in Cat Island and San Salvador were closed due to the passing of Kate just to the north, advising students and staff to remain safe.

[citation needed] Only high surf and some outer bands from Kate impacted Bermuda as it accelerated to the north, which was still recovering from Hurricane Joaquin that had passed just west of the island in early October.