The origins of Severe Tropical Cyclone Zoe can be traced back to a convective cloud cluster, that had developed by December 22, within the South Pacific Convergence Zone to the north of the Samoan Islands. The system subsequently emerged out of the South Pacific Convergence Zone and was classified as Tropical Depression 04F, while it was located to the east of Funafuti in Tuvalu. Over the next couple of days the system was steered towards the west-southwest, under the influence of a mid-level subtropical ridge of high pressure.