Tropical Storm Melissa continues to spin in the central Caribbean Sea and is showing no signs of letting up.
The National Hurricane Center said in an 2 p.m. ET advisory on Oct. 23 that Melissa is located about 200 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph with higher gusts.
Hurricane center forecasters said gradual strengthening is expected over the next day or so, followed by "more rapid intensification" this weekend. Melissa is forecast to become a hurricane within the next couple of days, and a major hurricane by the end of the weekend, according to the NHC advisory. The storm is forecast to hover near Jamaica and the southwestern portion of Haiti during the next few days.
And with the chances of a monstrous Category 5 storm still in play, the potential is there for Melissa to be "the most impactful storm of the 2025 season," said Houston-based meteorologist Matt Lanza in a Substack post on Oct. 22.
Indeed, if Melissa does end up turning west over the Caribbean south of Jamaica (like some model forecasts show), "I don't think it's hyperbolic to say we will likely get a Category 5, and quite possibly one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the Atlantic," Andrew Hazelton, an associate scientist at the University of Miami's Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies, said on X Oct. 22.
