Ororo Munroe is descended from a line of African witch-priestesses which can be traced back to the dawn of humanity. All of the women in this line of descent have white hair (throughout their lives) and blue eyes and the potential for magical abilities, while the men have none of these attributes. Ororo's mother, N'dare, was a princess of a tribe from Kenya that has yet to be identified. N'dare married American photojournalist David Munroe, and while living with him in Manhattan, Ororo was born. When she was six months old, she and her parents moved to Cairo, Egypt where her father was on assignment. Five years later, Ororo's Egyptian home was destroyed during an Arab-Israeli conflict. Ororo's parents were killed outright. Ororo found herself buried under the rubble of her home beside her mother's corpse. This event traumatized Ororo so that today she still suffers from claustrophobia, the fear of being in a confining space.

For a while after her parent's deaths, Ororo wandered the back alleys of Cairo until she was found by children working for the Egyptian master, Achmed el-Gibar. Achmed el-Gibar taught children to steal for him, and Ororo became his prize pupil. Within a year she became the most accomplished sneak thief and pickpocket in Cairo. Achmed el-Gibar also taught her to become a superb lockpicker and escape artist. Then, she had a short encounter with Xavier.

When Ororo was twelve, she felt a strong inner need to go south. She spent a year traveling by foot from Cairo across the Sahara Desert until she reached the home of her ancestors, the Serengeti Plain, which lies in both Kenya and Tanzania. During this long journey she encountered the young T'Challa, who would one day become the Black Panther. Ororo came to live on the Serengeti Plain beneath Mount Kilimanjaro. By this time her mutant power to control the weather had caused the natives to worship her as a goddess. In helping these tribes, Ororo developed her sense of responsibility to use her abilities for the benefit of others. She contentedly spent a number of years in the role of "goddess" until Professor Charles Xavier came to Africa and persuaded her that she should use her powers to benefit all humanity by joining the X-Men. Ororo did as Xavier asked, and he gave her the code-name Storm.

When the X-Men first clashed with the community of mutant outcasts called the Morlocks, Storm fought in personal combat with the Morlock's leader, Callisto. In defeating Callisto, Storm became the new leader of the Morlocks. Storm remained with the X-Men, and allowed Callisto to rule in her absence, but the Morlocks must now obey Storm whenever she returns and gives them orders.

Storm's mutant powers created a psychic bond between herself and the primal life force of the Earth's biosphere. This link may have been broken by a long stay in outer space with the X-Men while battling the Brood. This may be one of the factors underlying Storm's subsequent drastic changes in her attitudes, hairstyle, and manner of dress.