The third named storm of the extremely active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, Cindy formed out of a broad area of low pressure that developed in the northwestern Caribbean Sea near the Yucatán Peninsula in mid-June 2017.

While slowly moving to the northwest, Cindy's intensification was slow due to the effects of dry air and moderate to strong wind shear.

Because the cyclone had an asymmetrical structure, heavy rainfall was observed over southeastern Mississippi, southwestern Alabama, and the far western Florida Panhandle, while lesser precipitation amounts fell over Louisiana and Texas.

[1] As early as June 13, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) anticipated that a broad low pressure area would develop in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, which had the potential for tropical cyclogenesis.

[2] The second tropical wave began interacting with the gyre on June 17,[1] resulting in the development of a broad low pressure area later that day.

[1] At 21:00 UTC on June 19, the NHC started issuing advisories on Potential Tropical Cyclone Three, due to the system's threat along the United States Gulf coast.

[4] Early on June 20, the Hurricane Hunters observed that multiple centers merged into a single circulation about 325 mi (525 km) south of Louisiana.

[5] With these observations, the disturbance was designated as Tropical Storm Cindy, which developed at 18:00 UTC on June 20 about 240 mi (390 km) south-southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, based on the increased organization of the center.

[7] Early on June 21, despite a ragged satellite appearance, observations from the Hurricane Hunters and ships indicated that the storm intensified to reach maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (95 km/h) at 00:00 UTC.

[8][9] The pressure bottomed out around 991 millibars (29.3 inHg) early on June 22, despite its atypical appearance on satellite; the only thing maintaining it at tropical characteristics was a burst of convection that occurred near the center which wrapped into the southwestern quadrant of the storm.

[12] Cindy continued to lose its tropical characteristics as it weakened gradually inland, and transitioned into a remnant low over western Kentucky at 18:00 UTC on June 23.

[1] In its formative stages, the precursor system dropped heavy rainfall across the Yucatán Peninsula, Central America, the Cayman Islands, western Cuba, and Florida.

The system and its remnants spawned 18 tornadoes, all of which were rated EF0 or EF1, with 6 in Alabama; 3 in West Virginia; 2 each in Florida, Kentucky, Mississippi, and New Jersey; and 1 in Pennsylvania.

[17] Near Leakesville, Mississippi, heavy rainfall caused the Chickasawhay River to rise nearly 9 ft (3 m) past flood stage and overflow its banks, collapsing an abandoned bridge.

Dozens of crashes were reported around Memphis, Tennessee, from the strong winds and heavy rainfall; a driver was killed after going off the road and slamming into a pole.

[19] In South Bend, Indiana, strong winds peeled off part of the roof to a high school, damaging ten classrooms.