Cyclone Joni (RSMC Nadi designation: 11F, JTWC designation: 20P) formed as a weak tropical disturbance late on March 9, about 770 km (475 miles) west of Tahiti. A Tropical Cyclone Formation Alert was then issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, the following day as the disturbance had a well defined low level circulation center. Later that day the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre, in Nadi, Fiji, started to issue advisories on the tropical disturbance while upgrading it to Tropical Depression 11F, while a cyclone gale warning was declared for parts of the southern Cook Islands. On March 11 the Tropical Depression continued to intensify and was upgraded to a Tropical Cyclone by RSMC Nadi and the JTWC with RSMC Nadi assigning the name Joni to the storm, which was a name that had