Hurricane Forecast: Melissa a Potential Threat
We will be very fortunate if Melissa does not cause a humanitarian disaster, even as Florida is again in the clear of a strange 2025 hurricane season.
For 142 days of the 2025 hurricane season, the waters of the Caribbean Sea were still. All the storms that mattered this year formed to the north or east, and then turned north in an orderly fashion towards Bermuda.
However, on the 143rd day, Tropical Storm Melissa moved over the waters and is expected to make up for lost time heading into the weekend, posing a serious and historic threat of major hurricane impacts on Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas — but little to no risk to Florida or the continental U.S.
As of Friday, Melissa was strengthening after spending days as a messy and weak tropical storm in the central Caribbean, southeast of Jamaica and southwest of Hispaniola, with maximum sustained winds estimated at near 60 mph.
Melissa looks to make up for lost time heading into the weekend, posing a serious and historic threat of major hurricane impacts.
Author's summary: Hurricane Melissa threatens the Caribbean.