a tropical wave exited the west coast of africa on october 13 and moved across the atlantic. on october 20, it was declared a depression after shower activity increased. twelve hours after forming, the depression became tropical storm sebastien. it organized and developed good outflow. although wind shear was expected to limit intensification, the storm instead intensified and peaked with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (100 km/h) late on october 22, based on a ship report. at the time, most of the convection was sheared away from the center, and the storm was interacting with a low pressure area near puerto rico. the storm initially moved northwestward, before turning to the southwest along the low-level flow and into an area of increasing shear. on october 24, sebastien weakened into a tropical depression, and it maintained this intensity until landfall on anguilla. the next day, the system dissipated near the united states virgin islands, although the remnants continued westward.