Upon becoming a tropical cyclone, the tropical depression was moving to the west-northwest, under the steering currents of a high pressure area over the western Atlantic Ocean. Six hours after formation, the center of the storm became difficult to locate, though subsequently the tropical depression became much better organized; a large area of convection developed over the center, with several rainbands to its south. Based on reports from Hurricane Hunters, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Noel at 1815 UTC on October 28, while located about south-southeast of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. After the center re-developed beneath the thunderstorms, the storm quickly strengthened to winds of , and for several hours, the cyclone was drifting to the south of Hispaniola. Noel began to lose organization as a nearby upper-level low increased wind shear, with the circulation becoming ill-defined, as it further interacted with the mountainous terrain of Haiti. The storm crossed western Haiti as a disorganized tropical storm on October 29, and subsequently began moving parallel to the northeastern coast of Cuba, while moving around the southwestern periphery of a weakening ridge. On October 30, Noel made landfall near Gibara, Cuba, with winds of about . The center of Noel remained well-organized as it tracked through eastern Cuba, though its sustained winds quickly diminished to minimal tropical storm force. Early on October 31, Noel began drifting to the north-northwest, in response to the approach of a short-wave trough from the west and the eastward shift of the mid-level ridge. A large area of strong convective rainbands persisted to its east, though due to increased upper-level wind shear, there was little convection near the center. Shortly after 1200 UTC, on October 31, Noel emerged off the north coast of Cuba, and subsequently, the cyclone became better organized as storm's the circulation became better associated with the convection. While located just off the north coast of Cuba, the motion of Noel was nearly stationary, though forecasters indicated it could have executed a small cyclonic loop. On October 31, the Canadian Hurricane Centre began tracking the storm. Convection increased early on November 1, though initially the center remained to the southwest of the large area of thunderstorms. At 1800 UTC that day, the storm passed over the Bahamian island of New Providence near the city of Nassau. Later that day, the center tracked beneath the convection, and Noel accelerated northeastward, in the southwesterly flow ahead of an approaching trough; as it did so, the center became elongated and distorted.