The storm developed out of a stationary cold-core upper-level trough on March 12. Almost a week later, on March 19, a disturbance developed along the trough and traveled towards the east-southeast until March 22 when a ridge stopped the forward motion of the disturbance. The disturbance was in an unusually favorable environment with a slightly below-average wind shear and above-average sea surface temperatures. The combination of the two led to a slow transition from an extratropical cyclone to a subtropical cyclone by March 24. The storm continued to obtain tropical characteristics and became a tropical storm the next day while the winds steadily increased. The storm attained wind speeds of —equivalent to a low-end Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale—on March 26. At that time, it was unofficially named "Catarina" and was also the first hurricane-strength tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Atlantic Ocean. Unusually favorable conditions persisted and Catarina continued to intensify, and was estimated to have peaked with 1-minute sustained winds of on March 28. The center of the storm made landfall between the cities of Passo de Torres and Balneário Gaivota, Santa Catarina soon afterward. Catarina rapidly weakened upon landfall and dissipated later that day.