Hurricane Melissa
Hurricane Melissa was an extremely powerful, erratic, and devastating tropical cyclone that became the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, as well as the most intense at landfall in the Atlantic basin. The thirteenth and final named storm, fifth hurricane, fourth major hurricane, and third Category 5 hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, Melissa was also the strongest tropical cyclone worldwide in 2025. The storm caused catastrophic damage upon landfall in Jamaica, becoming the strongest recorded hurricane to hit the island, surpassing Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. It also generated the highest wind gust ever recorded by dropsonde data, with a wind gust of at an altitude of 657 ft, exceeding the record set by Typhoon Megi in 2010. Climate scientists analyzing Melissa concluded that human-driven climate change, which raises ocean temperatures, intensified the hurricane's destructive winds and rainfall.
Melissa formed from a tropical wave that was first monitored for development on October 16. The wave originated from West Africa, traveled from the central Atlantic to the Windward Islands, and then moved quickly westward into the Caribbean Sea, where it slowed down and developed into Tropical Storm Melissa on October 21. Weak steering currents and moderate wind shear kept Melissa meandering and disorganized for the next few days as it slowly moved northwest. Over the following days, Melissa became better organized, and from October 25 to 27, rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane before making landfall near New Hope, Jamaica, at its peak intensity, on October 28. Melissa emerged from the north coast of Jamaica later that day, weakened, and made landfall near Chivirico, Cuba, the next day. Melissa weakened to a Category 1 hurricane after landfall, approached Bermuda as a Category 2 hurricane, then again weakened before becoming a hurricane-force extratropical low on October 31 northeast of Bermuda. The remnants of Melissa then passed near Newfoundland, and gradually weakened over the next few days until dissipating on November 4.
In Hispaniola, even though Melissa itself stayed far to the southwest, its outer rainbands produced heavy rains over the island, leading to severe and deadly flash floods and landslides. Jamaica saw catastrophic damage from Melissa, with several locations near the point of landfall experiencing almost total destruction, especially around the Westmoreland and Saint Elizabeth parishes. Significant agricultural and infrastructure damage occurred in these regions due to storm surge, flooding, and high wind gusts from Melissa's eyewall passing over. Many towns in western Jamaica were also significantly flooded as a result, which also hampered recovery efforts. Telecommunications were also severely affected, especially in the western parts of Jamaica. In all, 102 deaths were attributed to Melissa, including 54 in Jamaica, 45 direct and 9 indirect, and 43 in Haiti. Estimated monetary losses in Jamaica are near US$10 billion.
Meteorological history
On October 16, the National Hurricane Center began monitoring a westward moving tropical wave for potential development. By October 19, the wave moved through the Windward Islands and into the Caribbean Sea. The disturbance moved quickly westward, then slowed significantly, providing an opportunity for development of a well-defined center and organized deep convection early on October 21, becoming Tropical Storm Melissa. On account of weak steering currents between ridges of high pressure to its northwest and southeast, Melissa moved slowly and erratically west to northwest over the central Caribbean, and was unable to strengthen appreciably due to westerly wind shear from a broad upper level trough moving over the Gulf of Mexico; the circulation would constantly reform to the east during this period. The trough then bypassed Melissa, resulting in a gradual decrease in the shear. This allowed Melissa's core to become vertically aligned. Later, increased outflow became apparent in the eastern half of the system as it slowly drifted north on October 25. By this time, the northern motion halted as Melissa was increasingly being steered by the ridge to its northwest.Enabled by very favorable environmental conditions, consisting of sea surface temperatures of, very high ocean heat content, wind shear decreasing to lighter values, and very high levels of mid-level relative humidity, Melissa commenced a period of rapid intensification late on October 25 shortly after it became a hurricane that afternoon. Its maximum sustained winds doubled from to 140 mph in 18 hours. After a brief pause, intensification resumed, and while moving generally westward, Melissa attained Category 5 status early on October 27. Unusually for a storm of such high intensity, Melissa never underwent an eyewall replacement cycle, allowing it to sustain its high intensity for a prolonged period, according to several meteorologists. After turning north-northeastward, the system later attained maximum sustained winds of, and a minimum central pressure of 892 mbar about south-southeast of Negril, Jamaica, the next morning. At 17:00 UTC, the storm made landfall near New Hope in Westmoreland Parish at its peak intensity. The hurricane weakened inland over the mountains, and emerged off Jamaica's north coast into the Caribbean at Category 4 strength, headed toward Cuba. The system then further weakened to a Category 3 hurricane soon thereafter.
After briefly re-strengthening to Category 4, with sustained winds of, the hurricane made landfall in eastern Cuba at 07:10 UTC on October 29 about east of Chivirico, with sustained Category 3 winds of. Inland, the rugged terrain of Cuba led to additional weakening, and the storm's sustained winds falling to low-end Category 2 strength by the time Melissa moved back offshore, into the Atlantic Ocean, eight hours later. The system then weakened to Category 1 strength, while beginning to accelerate toward the northeast, passing near Long Island while traversing the Bahamas that same afternoon. Late that day, the storm re-strengthened once more to Category 2 intensity, attaining sustained winds of, as it headed towards Bermuda on the morning of October 30. Increasing wind shear and decreasing sea surface temperatures caused Melissa to undergo extratropical transition early on October 31, and to weaken again to Category 1 strength, as it passed near Bermuda. Melissa completed its transition to a hurricane-force extratropical cyclone that same day.
Records and distinctions
- Globally, the strongest tropical cyclone of 2025.
- Globally, the highest wind gust ever measured by dropsonde, measured at an altitude of 657 ft ; the previous record was by Typhoon Megi in 2010.
- Tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the third-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of lowest barometric pressure, and tied with hurricanes Wilma, Gilbert, Dorian and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane as the second-most intense Atlantic hurricane in terms of one-minute sustained wind speeds.
- Tied with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane for most intense Atlantic hurricanes at landfall in terms of lowest barometric pressure, and with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, and Hurricane Dorian, for the strongest landfalling hurricane in the Atlantic in terms of maximum sustained winds; also the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Jamaica on record.
Effect of climate change
Preparations
Greater Antilles
On October 21, a hurricane watch was issued for southern portions of Haiti, while a tropical storm watch was issued for Jamaica. Jamaica's watch was upgraded to a hurricane watch and tropical storm warning on October 23. The next day, it was upgraded to a hurricane warning. A tropical storm warning was added to the southern portions of Haiti, also on October 23. The Margaritaville at Sea Islander rerouted from stops on Grand Cayman and Jamaica to Belize and Honduras. The Disney Treasure was rerouted from Tortola and Saint Thomas to Cozumel and Disney Wish changed its schedule at Castaway Cay to allow for the Treasures route change. Celebrity Beyond and Icon of the Seas saw a complete change to their schedules, moving to a western Caribbean-focused route. Carnival Celebration and Carnival Vista scrapped stops in the Dominican Republic. Carnival Dream and Carnival Liberty cancelled stops to Montego Bay and Liberty also cancelled a stop in the Cayman Islands. Airlines cancelled 167 flights in airports from the Greater Antilles and other nearby regions such as in the Bahamas, Barbados, Haiti, Jamaica, and the US Virgin Islands.The U.S. National Weather Service in Puerto Rico issued a flood warning for several municipalities due to potential heavy rains from the outer bands of Melissa on October 22.
In the Dominican Republic, four shelters were opened in San Juan de la Maguana, San Cristóbal, and the National District and 61 people sought sheltering. Twelve provinces were placed under red alert. Around 90 people evacuated Saona Island.
The Government of the Cayman Islands provided sandbags for citizens. Cayman Airways waived change-of-flight fees in relation to Melissa's approach. All touristic diving operations ceased on the islands of Little Cayman and Cayman Brac on October 24.
In Cuba, hurricane warnings were issued for the provinces of Granma, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo, Holguín, and Las Tunas while a tropical storm warning was issued for Camagüey Province. First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel reported that 735,000 people were evacuated in the country's eastern regions. Additionally, the United States Navy began evacuating several hundred people, including all non-mission-essential U.S. citizens, from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base to Florida.