Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Closes in on a Historic, Catastrophic Landfall in Jamaica

[Meatpie]

Good afternoon.

Hurricane Melissa rapidly intensified over the weekend and is now a rare Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds. The National Hurricane Center expects it to make landfall in Jamaica on Tuesday morning as the strongest hurricane on record to strike the island.



The center of the hurricane is located about 130 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica and the storm is moving westward at just 3 mph. Jamaica, Haiti and the southern Dominican Republic will face the worst of the storm through Tuesday. Next in line for strong winds, storm surge and flooding rain will be eastern Cuba, the southern Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.

Rainfall totals up to 30 inches are expected from Melissa in parts of southern Hispaniola and Jamaica through Wednesday, with local maxima of 40 inches. Eastern Cuba could receive totals of up to 20 inches.

This explosive strengthening is happening more often as the world warms due to fossil fuel pollution. Three of the four Atlantic hurricanes this season underwent extreme rapid intensification: Erin, Gabrielle and Humberto.

 

[Meatpie]

The sun rose to reveal a terrifying image of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa Monday morning. The center of the monstrous hurricane was just over 100 miles from the southern coast of Jamaica, but its clouds and storms had completely obscured the island from view.

Melissa’s center is easy to spot, just look for the eye – the clear space amid all the cloudiness.

Since reliable records began in 1851, no Category 5 hurricane has ever made landfall in Jamaica. The strongest known storm to affect the island was Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, which approached from the east as a Category 4.

Gilbert remains Jamaica’s benchmark hurricane. It destroyed more than 100,000 homes, wiped out power and communications, and killed 45 people.

 

[Meatpie]

Melissa’s immense power has placed the hurricane in very exclusive company. With sustained winds of 175 mph, Melissa is now one of the strongest hurricanes, based on top wind speeds, on record in the Atlantic basin.

Only nine Atlantic hurricanes have been stronger than Melissa, though several others have also hit 175-mph strength. Hurricane Allen from 1980 still holds the title as the basin’s strongest storm: 190 mph winds.

Melissa is also one of the strongest hurricanes to ever roam the Caribbean Sea, only behind Allen, 2005’s Wilma, 1998’s Mitch and 1988’s Gilbert. Gilbert was the last major hurricane to directly strike Jamaica.

 

[Meatpie]

Good evening.

Melissa’s eye — the storm’s center — is starting to come ashore in Jamaica, but the storm has not yet made landfall. The Category 5 hurricane has winds of 185 mph as of 12 p.m. ET, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Landfall will officially occur once at least half of the eye is over land, likely in the next hour or two.

The center is 30 miles southeast of Negril, Jamaica, and Melissa is moving to the north-northeast at 9 mph.