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Hurricane Melissa is now one of the strongest hurricanes on record to make landfall anywhere in the North Atlantic Ocean. The historic landfall is imminent over the Caribbean island of Jamaica on October 28, 2025. The hurricane currently has maximum sustained wind speeds of 298 km/hr (185 miles/hr) which ties it with Hurricane Dorian in 2019 and the Labor Day hurricane of 1935 as the strongest Atlantic hurricane to ever make landfall, according to The Weather Channel.
Hurricane Melissa has a minimum central pressure of 892 mb which puts it behind Hurricane Wilma in 2005 with a minimum central pressure of 882 mb and Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 with a minimum central pressure of 888 mb in the North Atlantic basin.
The minimum central pressure of a hurricane is another measure of the strength of a hurricane or any tropical cyclone. For the strongest tropical cyclones, the minimum central pressure will be the minimum. Hurricane Gilbert was the strongest hurricane to make landfall over Jamaica before Hurricane Melissa.
At 11:56 am EDT (9:26 pm IST) Hurricane Melissa is getting closer to the coast of Jamaica and about to make landfall. At 11:14 EDT (8:44 pm IST), the Jamaica Public Service Company had already announced “35% of customers were in the dark, with most of those outages being on the western side of the island, where Melissa is about to come ashore.”
“At this time, we have NO plans to shut down the system”, highlighted the Jamaica Public Service Company.
At 11:30 am EDT (9:00 pm IST), Hurricane Melissa was close to Treasure Beach of Jamaica and about to make landfall, according to live updates from The Weather Channel. At 11:39 am EDT (9:09 pm IST), hurricane hunters from the “53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron crew, more often known as the Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters” had to return to their forward operating location Curacao because of extreme turbulence in the eye of Hurricane Melissa, according to The Weather Channel.
“This comes after the aircraft experienced unusual force, even for the eyewall of a major hurricane. Safety procedures require that the aircraft undergo an inspection before returning to normal operations. The extreme, unusually strong turbulence speaks to the historical nature of Hurricane Melissa, with even hurricane hunters finding the strength of the storm unusual,” stated The Weather Chanel.
“Catastrophic winds, rain and storm surge are happening on the island right now, and will continue for hours to come. Some of the most intense conditions right now are impacting Saint Elizabeth and Westmoreland parishes on the southwestern coast of Jamaica,” said The Weather Channel.
Earlier, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Union had stated that “after forming in the central Atlantic Ocean at the end of October 2025, Hurricane Melissa underwent rapid intensification as it moved westward across the Atlantic, reaching Category 4 status with sustained winds of 225 km/h. The storm then began to move west-north-west, passing through the Greater Antilles and severely affecting the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, and eastern Cuba, causing at least four casualties.”
Backpirch Weather on social media platform X (@BackpirchCrew) posted at 8:16 pm IST on Tue, October 28, 2025 that the “measurements from the Hurricane Hunters have recorded winds of ~215 MPH and gusts of ~252 MPH in the lowest 150 meters of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa’s southern eyewall.”
“We are witnessing one of the strongest Hurricanes in history”, said Backperch Weather on X.
The impact of Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica is unknown right now. But whatever the impact, it will be historic in the annals of climate science and will define the future course of the human species with respect to global warming and consequent climate change.