As Hurricane Melissa slams into the southern coast of Jamaica, the catastrophic Category 5 storm is expected to spawn intense storm surges and mudslides in the country's steep, mountainous terrain.
The storm, with sustained winds of up to 185 mph and gusts of more than 200 mph, is riding the momentum of a low barometric pressure that ranks among the most powerful in recorded storm history. Melissa breaks the strongest Jamaican hurricane landfall record set by Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 with its 130 mph winds.
Here's a closer look at the storm as it approached Jamaica's coast, and how it compares with past hurricanes:
Melissa's pressure dropped to 892 mb early Tuesday. That tied the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 for the third-lowest pressure for an Atlantic hurricane on record. Only Wilma in 2005 at 882 mb and Gilbert in 1988 at 888 mb were lower.
MB stands for millibars, a unit of atmospheric pressure. It is a key indicator of a hurricane's strength: The lower the millibar reading, the stronger the storm. That's because a lower pressure inside the storm's eye creates a larger pressure difference with the surrounding atmosphere, driving stronger winds. Here's look at how Melissa compares with historic storms:
