Tropical Storm Melissa, National Hurricane Center
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Tropical Storm Melissa is likely to undergo rapid intensification and grow into a powerful Category 4 hurricane.
Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to bring catastrophic flash flooding and landslides to parts of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica.
What was once a very powerful storm has now weakened into scraps. As of Friday morning, Melissa has officially become a post-tropical storm, meaning that there are no longer any active storms around the Atlantic Ocean.
At 11 a.m. Saturday, the National Hurricane Center issued an advisory stating that Tropical Storm Melissa is in the Caribbean Sea, 155 miles southeast of Kingston Jamaica and 235 miles southwest of Port Au Prince Haiti. The system, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, is moving west-northwest at 1 mph.
The strengthening storm is most likely to approach Jamaica and/or Hispaniola late this week. In the days that follow from there, the potential path for the storm remains uncertain, and troubling.
Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a major hurricane by Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Tropical Storm Melissa is expected to become a major hurricane over the weekend. The storm is currently located in the Caribbean and is not expected to directly hit Florida. Jamaica and Haiti are under hurricane and tropical storm watches and warnings.
Melissa is currently the only active tropical system in the Atlantic basin. As of Friday night, the storm remains nearly stationary, drifting north at just 2 mph. Maximum sustained winds are around 65 mph—just below the 75 mph threshold needed to reach Category 1 hurricane status.
After devastating the Caribbean islands and dumping rain on Bermuda, where is Post-Tropical Cyclone Melissa going next?