Name: Hurricane Melissa: a case study in a changing hurricane era
Uploaded: 2025-10-29T01:10:15.641Z
Duration: 2 min 19 s
Description: Hurricane Melissa’s Category 5 winds tore into western Jamaica Tuesday morning, marking one of the most powerful Atlantic landfalls ever recorded. Melissa may be part of a new hurricane era: storms fuelled by record-warm seas and slowed by a shifting jet stream.

Hurricane Melissa’s Category 5 winds tore into western Jamaica Tuesday morning, marking one of the most powerful Atlantic landfalls ever recorded. Melissa may be part of a new hurricane era: storms fuelled by record-warm seas and slowed by a shifting jet stream.

Kingston

Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, made direct landfall in western Jamaica with sustained winds approaching 300 km/h and a central pressure of 892 millibars, marking it as one of the most intense Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded. The storm's slow movement has resulted in prolonged exposure to severe weather, including significant storm surges and heavy rainfall, particularly affecting Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

Experts attribute Melissa's exceptional strength and slow pace to a combination of record-high sea surface temperatures, increased atmospheric moisture, and a stalled jet stream. These factors are consistent with scientific warnings about a new era of hurricanes that are not only more powerful but also linger longer over vulnerable regions, increasing the risk of catastrophic flooding and landslides.

Hurricane Melissa: a case study in a changing hurricane era

The Category 5 winds of Hurricane Melissa made direct landfall in western Jamaica Tuesday morning. The storm is still unfolding, but with sustained winds of almost 300 km per hour and a central pressure of 892 millibars, you're looking inside the eye of one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes ever recorded and one of the most intense to ever make landfall in the Caribbean. Here's what made Melissa so powerful and what the storm says about the future of hurricanes. Everybody is really mobilized to the maximum. If we are indeed looking at the storm of the century, which we are. Jamaica took the first and fiercest hit. But as the storm drifts north through Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, it's leaving behind a pattern that scientists have been warning about. Storms that are not just stronger, but slower, lingering over vulnerable terrain. Melissa's eye, where the strongest winds are concentrated, passed just west of Black River Bay, funneling the storm surge several kilometers inland. And in Cuba and Haiti, mountains are amplifying rainfall and landslide risk. In some regions, over 700 mm is expected in just a few days. Three climate factors are helping to explain what's unfolding. First, sea surface temperatures hit nearly 31 degrees Celsius in the Caribbean this week. Record warmth that's rapidly fueling the growing storm. Second, a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which is why storms like Harvey and now Melissa end up being remembered not just for their winds, but for the catastrophic flooding that follows. And third, the jet stream. That fast-moving band of air in the upper atmosphere stalled out. A wavier jet stream is a growing area of climate research and can leave storms meandering instead of sweeping through. Melissa's track and pace are part of what made it so destructive, moving at little more than a walking pace. That means hours to unleash torrential rain over steep terrain and low-lying coasts. While its full impact across Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti and the wider Caribbean will take time to measure, meteorologists are already calling Hurricane Melissa a case study in a changing hurricane era, where record-breaking storms arrive stronger but stay longer.

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