A tropical wave exited the west coast of Africa on September 26. It moved westward, producing an area of convection, or thunderstorms, over the central Caribbean Sea by October 4. By two days later, the system had a broad circulation located between the coast of Honduras and the Cayman Islands. An upper-level trough, left behind after Hurricane Opal exited the region, interacted with the tropical wave and the circulation, which gradually became better organized; the origins were complex, but common for disturbances over the western Caribbean. By October 7, banding features developed within the convection. Late that day, the system organized enough for the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to designate it Tropical Depression Nineteen, located off the northeast tip of Nicaragua. A day later, the Hurricane Hunters confirmed the development of the circulation. While in its formative stages, the depression moved northward, steered by a nearby upper-level low, amid weak steering currents caused by a subtropical ridge over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. Early on October 9, the NHC upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Roxanne.