I had very similar experience. 2 days ago I listened to dr Russell Hurlburt explaining that people don't know what their inner experiences are and I realised that "images" I have in my head have no colours at all (not even white or black though I have ideas about the colours) while actual seeing images is all about colours - if everything is for example pitch black it means you don't see anything. I thought that I had mental images because I had something visual happening in my head - putting objects in space, knowing their shapes. I feel the movement of my eyeballs when I imagine looking at something, how I watch different elements, moving my gaze from one element to another or focusing to watch details, and can imagine touch, emotions associated with a things, get concepts about colours and other details. Like I have all elements of seeing just without actual seeing. When there was a question "how vivid the image is?" my brain somehow interpreted is "how vivid the mental representation is" - I didn't rate it high because I didn't have a clear picture but also not very low because I had vivid mental representation. When I read fiction, it's very immersive to me. I also cheat — I combine in my head colours which I really see with shapes I can imagine, so it feels like I can almost see images in my head, which obviously doesn't work at all in the darkness. So only 2 days ago I realised that what interpreted as some kind of images was actually something else. Just like you I could answer all detailed questions about what I imagined but because I conceptualised the scene with details, not because I really saw it. I just don't need another person to prompt the conceptualisation. When I took tests with more awareness about what is an inner "image", I got a confirmation that I actually have "aphantasia". That's why I came here. I love discovering names and descriptions of my inner experiences, it will help me communicating that to others. It is also fascinating to learn about different ways of experiencing the world.

So I think I read that spatial visualization is in a different part of the brain from visual imagery. For example, I have really good spatial memory. I can imagine my childhood home and construct the spatial layout nearly perfectly in my brain (I don't really see it but it's there) but I can't imagine the face of a loved one who I haven't seen in a while other than to tell myself something like, "they're short, they have brown hair, etc". I can easily remember how to get from point a to point b as I'm almost mapping it out in my head, but I can't picture an apple. That may account for what you're experiencing.

My understanding is that if you experience "associated sounds, textures, and the feel of wind" AND visuals, you'd have hyperphantasia. Given your description, it does sound like you have aphantasia. Apparently, the senses people can imagine vary more than most people realize. I can imagine sounds, but none of the other senses. As for the cat in the tree, I can imagine the tree's structure and could sketch it, but it's not in shadow. Instead, it feels like it's behind a wall of black glass. Somehow, I know it's there, but all I see is black. I can sometimes get vague visuals when I (rarely) have a lucid dream, and can sometimes even punch a hole in the wall for a few seconds and see something, then it's back to black.